By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Ward 7 Alabaster Councilman Tommy Ryals saw plenty of reason to be excited when he reviewed the city Department of Building Safety report at the end of September.

In September alone, the department issued 15 new home building permits valued at a total of nearly $3.6 million. The 15 new homes in September brought the year-to-date total of new homes in Alabaster to 82 valued at nearly $21.4 million through the first nine months of the year.

By comparison, the year-end totals were 29, 30, 57, 61 and 77 each year from 2010-2014, respectively.

“That’s already our highest number of new home starts in the last five years,” Ryals said during an Oct. 26 council meeting.

In September, the department also issued 18 residential or remodel permits for projects valued at nearly $1.5 million, bringing the year-to-date total to 177. The number is up from 92 such permits during the same period last year.

In the commercial sector, the city issued one new commercial building permit in September to bring the year-to-date total up to nine for construction projects valued at more than $3.1 million. During the same period last year, the city had issued only three new commercial building permits for projects valued at about $1.2 million.

Alabaster’s number of commercial renovation and remodel permits has also seen a surge, as the Department of Building Safety issued nine such permits in September for renovation projects valued at a total of $481.080.

Through the first nine months of 2015, Alabaster had issued a total of 67 commercial addition or remodel permits for projects valued at more than $4.2 million. By comparison, the city had only issued 26 commercial renovation permits through the end of September last year, but last year’s permits were for projects valued at more than $8.2 million.