By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Alabaster’s number of new homes was slightly down at the end of April from the same time last year, while the number of residential remodels and new commercial buildings was up, according to numbers recently released by the Alabaster Fire Department’s Planning and Safety Division.

In the month of April, the department issued four new residential home building permits for projects valued at a total of $896,120. The four new homes brought the April 30 year-to-date total to 26 new homes valued at a total of about $6.9 million.

By comparison, the city had issued 30 new home building permits through the first four months of 2016 for projects valued at a total of about $7.3 million.

Alabaster is still on track to record about the same number of new homes at the end of the year this year compared with 2015 and 2016. The city issued 57 total permits in 2012, 61 in 2013, 77 in 2014, 100 in 2015 and 101 in 2016.

At the end of April, the city had issued 90 residential addition or remodel permits for projects valued at a total of about $1.6 million. The number was up considerably from the same time period last year, as the city had issued 68 such permits through the first four months of 2016 for projects valued at a total of about $1.5 million.

In the commercial sector, the city had issued seven permits for new buildings for projects valued at a total of about $2.8 million, compared to four new commercial buildings at the end of April 2016 for projects valued at a total of about $4.3 million.

Commercial addition and remodel permits were slightly down from 2016, as the city had issued 18 such permits for projects valued at a total of $1.3 million. Last year, the city had issued 21 commercial addition or remodel permits for projects valued at a total of about $1.5 million.