If it seems there are a lot of new houses being built in the community, it’s because there are.
A check of building permits for new homes issued since the first of the year shows that 14 houses with basements have been started since Jan. 1.
This time last year, there had only been five, according to Scott Allnutt, Owen County’s building inspector. Allnutt is responsible for issuing permits for all new construction in the community.
In addition to the new homes, Allnutt has also issued permits for two hotels at Perry Park, two doublewides, three room additions, four pole barn garages, a swimming pool and more.
In total, 29 permits have been issued for construction work in the community this year. Through the same time period last year, only 24 had been approved by the building inspector.
While the difference between this year’s total permits and last year’s only represents an increase of five permits or 21 percent, the biggest difference is the number of new home starts in the community.
And many of those new home starts are by people moving into the community.
“Most everyone of them is a new resident,” Allnutt said. “A few of them grew up in the community and are now building a home of their home, but most of them are moving into the community.”
In 2005, permits were issued for 27 new homes, less than twice the number that have been issued to date in 2006.
“And they’re all spread out all over the community,” Allnutt said. “They aren’t springing up in just one place. And I believe there’s more to come, especially as water availability expands throughout the county.”
The building inspector pointed out that in five different subdivisions, more than 150 lots have been surveyed. Those lots range in size from 1 acre to 10 acres.
“Most of the people are from Ohio and Northern Kentucky,” Allnutt added. “They want to get away from the traffic and the taxes are a whole lot cheaper.”

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