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For the fifth year in a row, new housing permits in Smithville have seen a year over year decrease.

From Nov. 2, 2008, to Nov. 2, 2009, the city issued just 30 new housing permits, compared to the 32 recorded in the last fiscal year and 69 the year before that.

According to records from the Smithville Planning and Community Development Department, housing permit numbers have been on a steady decline in Smithville since peaking in 2003-2004 at 196 and the decline has since been made worse in the last few years thanks to the recession and the shaky housing market, said Jack Hendrix, director of the department.

This year’s total of 30 new housing permits is also the lowest the city has seen in over 20 years. Although, the effect is areawide and to give some perspective to the numbers, in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, Platte City issued zero new housing permits and Kearney issued just 23.

But, while housing permit numbers have been dropping the last few years in Smithville and the surrounding area, Hendrix said it wasn’t something the city didn’t expect. Hendrix also said 30 could well be the bottom and permit numbers should begin to level off this year with some growth in the pipe.

“I think we’ll slowly edge up unless the commercial market drops,” he said. “I anticipate slow growth, assuming we’re out of the recession now. Maybe 35 housing permits next year and 10 percent growth each year after that. Forty to 50 housing permits a year would get us up on stable ground.”

Ideally, Hendrix said, the city would like to see 100 to 120 new housing permits a year, but with the tough market it could take some time to get back to those numbers that the city met or exceeded between 2001 and 2006.

New retail opportunities, such as the Smithville Commons project, could also give the city a little boost in housing permits when they come online in the coming years, Hendrix said.

“When you get a place with retail shopping, you make the city more attractive to someone wanting to move in because they don’t have to drive to Kansas City for entertainment or to see a movie,” he said. “They can stick around here. They don’t have to, but they have the option.”

But it may also be hard to get those retail projects going, Hendrix said, until housing permits pick back up and the city can generate traffic to entice retailers to Smithville.

The city is also trying to diversify its housing market, Hendrix said, and bring in more starter homes to entice families to the community. For the past few years, the city has been underserved in starter homes — homes in the $90,000 to $170,000 range — but that’s beginning to change, Hendrix said, and most of the new housing permits this past year were starter homes.

NEW HOUSING PERMITS

- 2000-2001 — 75

- 2001-2002 — 98

- 2002-2003 — 153

- 2003-2004 — 196

- 2004-2005 — 128

- 2005-2006 — 123

- 2006-2007 — 69

- 2007-2008 — 32

- 2008-2009 — 30

Source: city of Smithville

Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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