The Village of Keremeos issued one building permit for new residential construction in the first half of 2025, and a lack of water is keeping more from going ahead.
The one new build, which is worth around $289,000 according to the July 21 report to village council, was previously approved for a water connection as part of a subdivision several years prior to the building permit being applied for.
The report notes that over the last year, which includes time since provincial legislation for increased housing density came into effect, the Village has received inquiries about other new developments and additional secondary suites or carriage houses.
However, the Village has had to respond to those inquiries by stating that no building permits will be issued without approval for additional water services and new water connections.
That is largely up to the Keremeos Irrigation District, barring a few already developed sections of downtown Keremeos that the village owns the infrastructure for.
The KID has responded to a previous subdivision request in the last year by stating that it would only approve connections for a single unit per parcel, and no secondary units or additional subdivisions due to the system being at "temporary capacity" following a well collapse.
The Village itself has recently actively begun to pursue the possibility of taking over water supply inside the municipal boundaries, which is dependent on funding from higher levels of government.
The KID currently has 1,000 water connections, largely for irrigation, with many pieces dating back to 1967 when the system was first built.
In terms of other permits, the Village issued 12 for other renovations or repairs in the first half of the year. Two of those renovations are for secondary suites,
however their owners were informed that no license to occupy would be issued without new water connections.
Those additional permits are for construction worth an approximate $344,000.
In comparison, over the first half of 2024, only five new permits were issued that were only for renovations or other repairs, worth about $276,000.
