The pace of building smashed records in Kalispell for 2020, and Planning Director Jarod Nygren only expects that to continue—or possibly speed up—in the new year.

“It was a busy year. A lot busier than we thought,” Nygren said on Dec. 31. “And they’re still coming in.”

The Kalispell Planning Department approved 468 residential building permits in 2020, including 312 single family, duplex or townhouse units and 156 multifamily units.

Across the board, those figures are roughly double what they were the year before: in 2019, Nygren said they approved 160 single-family, duplex and townhouse permits, as well as 84 multi-family permits.

“We kind of felt like 2020 was going to be a generally slower year, and it hasn’t been the case,” Nygren noted.

The single-family category brought in $62 million in building value in 2020, compared to $41.7 million in 2019. Nygren said the construction value for residential building is “about as high as it’s ever been.”

Likewise, commercial construction totaled $63.7 million in value last year, compared to $25.7 million in that category in 2019. In fact, total construction values in Kalispell — both commercial and residential — amounted to less than $66 million for all of 2019.

“We needed these units,” Nygren explained about the housing construction upswing. Before the city experienced an influx of new residents in 2020, Kalispell already faced a serious housing shortage. Nygren said the city was at least 300 dwelling units short of meeting demand, prior to the big jump in 2020.

“Before 2020, we were at roughly 0% vacancy,” Nygren reported. “2020’s created an additional demand on housing. We didn’t have enough units to begin with and there’s been even a greater demand with the people moving here.”

NYGREN ANTICIPATES building to continue at breakneck speed in 2021. “I don’t expect it to taper off,” he predicted. “I don’t see any reason residential construction is going to slow down going into 2021.”

He said Kalispell should expect to see construction get underway on a number of multifamily projects that have already been approved, but not yet put into place, throughout 2021. And trends seem to suggest there will be plenty of new projects to join those already in the works.

“We’re going to see more multifamily this year,” Nygren forecasted. “A lot of it has been upticking. I’m not going to be surprised if we’re well over 200 this year in multifamily [permits], just knowing what’s in the pipeline.”

Nygren reiterated he sees no reason for residential building to slow down this year.

“The demand is there,” he observed, and the city will therefore do its best to provide the supply. He explained there is no moratorium or other formal measure in place that would set a limit on the number of permits the Planning Department approves in a year.

But even though 2020 far surpassed everyone’s expectations, Kalispell has been gearing up for a growth spurt for years. Nygren pointed out all of the permits that were approved in 2020 are located in areas that the city has deemed suitable for growth, with adequate utilities and infrastructure in place.

“Before we hit 2020 and this kind of surge of people, we had already planned for all this,” Nygren said. “We’re just giving a spot for these people to land and [for] the people who were already here.”

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.