Construction crews aren't the only ones with time to kill as construction takes a breather across Kootenai County, the recession prompting folks to think twice about investing in new and bigger homes.

Some local building and planning departments are seeing their in-boxes on the light side, with the number of building permit applications dwindling, and most coming in as smaller projects.

With less workload and budget constraints, most are forced to trim their staff.

"Some of them (building and planning departments) are not seeing much of anything," said Scott Clark, director of the county Building and Planning Department. "We have a beautiful county, and there's still a lot of draw for people to come, but they're making those choices differently, based on what they see in local and national economy."

Some areas are worse off than others, Clark said.

The county, for instance, is still slogging along with a fairly steady inflow of permit applications, he said, even though just 1,392 permits were issued last year, compared to 1,958 in 2005.

"Our numbers are down from where they were peaking in 2007, and I think that's kind of been a trend regionally and nationally. I don't think, however, Kootenai County has been as dramatically impacted as a lot of other communities," Clark said, adding that recent permit loads match the average level over the past 20 years.

What's changed substantially is the size of projects, he added.

"The homes we're seeing are much more modest in size," he said. "We've also seen a pickup in the number of remodel types of activities, as opposed to the construction of large new homes."

The department is trying to keep employees level with demand, he said.

The county has curtailed its building and planning staff, cutting a code enforcement position last year. Five of the department's 32 positions are currently vacant, Clark added, due to the dragging winter construction season.

The vacant positions include a front counter assistant, an administrative secretary, a plans examiner, and two planners.

"We're trying to be prudent with the moneys that we have available," Clark said. "In recognition of not wanting to have idle hands, we keep the folks we have busy."

The county commissioners have also been discussing possible restructuring of the department, he added, though they haven't pinpointed just how to do so.

"At this point, I can't really offer anything specific. That's something we've talked about," Clark said.

The county takes roughly two weeks to process a residential permit, he said. Time frames for commercial permits vary, depending on project size.

When business picks up in spring, Clark said, the department will deem whether to fill any more positions.

"I'm relatively optimistic that we're going to be seeing hopefully more activity," he said.

Workload at the Coeur d'Alene building department has nose-dived.

While city employees scrambled to issue 791 permits for new buildings in 2005, that number plummeted to 157 in 2010, said building official and building services director Ed Wagner.

The city issued a total 1,714 permits last year, down from the 3,462 issued in 2005.

"The economy," Wagner said simply of the drop.

The city is also curbing its staff, both because of the reduced demand and budget shortfalls, Wager said. The department has chosen not to fill three vacant department positions, including a residential planner reviewer, a residential building inspector and a permit technician.

Wagner added that the department can now run smoothly with just 10 employees, after adopting a new electronic permitting system.

"It's been a huge factor in our processing, and our reduction of man hours involved," he said, adding that processing a residential permit takes less than a week, and a commercial takes a few weeks..

A planning position has also been frozen, said Coeur d'Alene Planner Sean Holm, adding that the department now has five employees.

"From what we've been told, it's budgetary constraints," Holm said.

Permit applications have bumped up lately, Holm added, though more for workforce housing and apartment projects than residences.

He believes the pick-up is due to private investors taking advantage of the building downtime, he said.

"We're looking forward to a busy season, from what we can see so far," he said. "Maybe not for traditional mcmansions, larger single family homes, but there's definitely construction going on."

Wagner added that February has been the best month for permits the department has had in a long time.

"We just haven't seen big projects like we have in the past," he said.

The city of Post Falls has been chopping staff, as well.

In total, one building inspector, one permit writer, one engineer tech and two planners have been trimmed from the Building and Planning departments, said Terry Werner, public services director.

"It's just completely that the workload has diminished," Werner explained. "If we don't have work, we can't keep employees employed."

The city issued 862 building permits last year, he said, dismal compared to the 1,508 issued in 2005.

"Back in 2005, we were doing about 100 inspections per week. Now we're doing about 25 to 30 a week," he said. "With money tightening up, it's hard for people to get the money to build."

The building and planning departments currently have three building officials, one planner, four engineering staff, a planning receptionist, an engineering secretary and front counter employee.

The city can process a single family home permit between a day and a week, said building official Russell Cornell. Commercial can take up to a few days or a week, depending on project size.

Residential permits saw a boost in 2009 because of the federal First-Time Homebuyer credit expansion, Cornell said.

But this year, those permits have been dry, he said.

Commercial projects have picked up recently, Werner said, like a new Love's Travel store and an incoming Burger King.

"We're seeing a little more commercial, but residential is still pretty slow," he said. "I think we've made the appropriate cutbacks. We're running lean and doing a good job trying to watch the taxpayers' dollars and be responsible."

At Hayden, building and planning staff workload is the same as ever.

Heavy.

"We're still very busy, we've got commercial construction filling that in pretty good," said city Administrator Stefan Chatwin.

Even though issued permits have dropped from 1,014 in 2005 to 387 last year, he said, the department has been facing large projects like the new Wal-Mart and the Hayden Canyon development.

Any workload keeps the planning and building staff busy, he added, because the staff is so small, with only two building department employees and one city planner.

"We've been pretty lean, even during the peak time," he said, and estimated that a residential permit is processed in a week or less, and a commercial permit in a few weeks.

The city is careful about not hiring extra staff during boom years, Chatwin explained.

"We're reluctant to add staff," he said. "So we make do with what we have."

Rathdrum's planning and building departments are still seeing activity, said city Administrator Brett Boyer, though less than several years ago.

"In the last two years, growth has been at about 1 percent with new residential construction," he estimated.

Building official Glenn Miller noted that permits haven't seen a sharp drop, with the recent peak of 212 permits issued in 2007 cutting just above the 175 issued last year.

"We've been doing pretty well, we have quite a bit of available land," he said.

Slimming up staff was still necessary, however.

To accommodate budget restrictions and lightened workload, Boyer said, the city has merged the public works director and city engineer into one position.

A building inspector works part time as a code enforcer, he added, and a clerk position was cut.

"We're pretty lean," Boyer said. "In a smaller city, our employees wear different hats and have different responsibilities."

Remaining staff includes a planner, project manager, office specialist and building inspector.

The city is currently working on a new subdivision and completing some annexations, Boyer added. A residential permit takes about a week, and a commercial between two and several weeks.

Boyer's expectations for construction down the road?

It'll pick back up, he believes, considering early demand for new housing that he's seen.

"(Construction) hasn't stopped completely," Boyer said. "We continue to have new homes built here."