Utah's building boom has hit West Valley City full blast.

City building inspectors are scrambling to keep up, performing as many as 25 inspections a day in response to an unprecedented wave of residential and commercial development. The city is temporarily expanding its building inspection staff from six to eight.The number of building permits issued by the city steadily increased between 1993 and 1995, but this year's increase has been more dramatic. The city already has issued more than 1,000 residential and commercial building permits, and it's anticipated that number will double by the end of December. That would be an increase of about 33 percent over last year's total.

"The big change I see from this year to last year is the residential (construction). Residential has absolutely exploded beyond anybody's projection," said Ed Domian, the city's chief building inspector.

The city issued 589 home building permits last year but has issued 520 already this year. The 1996 total could reach 900, Domian predicted.

And what is being built in West Valley City these days is more on the high end of the market. Domian said the total valuation for the homes and businesses to be constructed this year could reach $236 million - and that doesn't include the city's $53.3 million hockey arena.

The valuation associated with last year's 1,500-plus permits was just $91.4 million. Building permit valuations for just the first six months of this year equal $110 million.

Planning officials say the jump in valuation is due partly to increases in the cost of wood and uniform building costs, and changes in the city's fee schedule. But mostly it's because many of the new homes are larger models with three- and four-car garages.

In May of 1996 alone, builders received permits for 157 residential and commercial projects worth about 40 percent of the value of all the construction projects started in 1995.

Domian said the Prime Option Mastercard national headquarters, to be completed next year, is responsible for a good share of the increase in valuation. The 400,000-square-foot building will be the city's biggest in terms of occu-pi-able space, he said.

"If you take Prime Option out, I think the commercial (valuation) is about the same as last year," he said. "Commercial (development) is the same as it was last year - very robust."

The city's northwest quadrant is ripe with commercial and industrial growth. An industrial complex between 3600 West and 4000 West, and between 2400 South and 2700 South, will house the new Usana Inc. vitamin and food supplement plant. Two 1,000-square-foot warehouses nearby will service a construction company, Sundance Catalog Company and Firestone Tire & Service Centers, according to John Janson, assistant director of community development.

Across Bangerter Highway (4000 West), between 2200 South and 3000 South, construction of the four-story, 640-acre Lake Park Corporate Centre and golf course is already under way. The Bart Warner Ford dealership and Dick Simon Trucking also plan expansion projects in the area of 5600 West and 2600 South, Janson said. In progress is construction of the West Valley Event Center, future home of the Utah Grizzlies hockey team, and several new businesses at about 3200 South and Decker Lake Lane.

For city staff, the sharp rise translates into missed lunches, excess hours and a constant scramble to keep up.

"This is probably our biggest building year yet," Janson said. "It's taxing us quite a bit. We thought last year was busy, too, but this year the numbers are way up.

"Five years ago we did tremendous outreach. We're now reaping the benefits . . . It seems like there's not a vacant parcel of land lying anywhere that someone hasn't talked to us about."

Most of the residential growth is concentrated south of 3500 South and west of 3200 West, Domian said.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Building permits: West Valley City

YEAR PERMITS UNITS VALUATION IN MILLIONS

1990 826 287 $26.3

1991 892 345 $30.4

1992 951 404 $31.5

1993 1,034 451 $44.8

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1994 1,341 716 $85.9

1995 1,552 806 $91.4

1996* 1,001 843 $110.0

*First six months

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