Albert Lea’s Inspection Department has issued more than twice as many building permits to date this year over last year.

The city has issued 703 building permits for the year as of Oct. 31, compared to 336 building permits issued from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, 2009.

“We’ve had over 400 roofing permits due to the storms, between June and now,” said Jennifer Nelson, office specialist with the city’s Inspection Office.

Despite the doubling of the number of permits, however, the difference in valuation is only roughly $329,000.

Nelson said that’s because of the difference in the work, and directly linked to all of the new roofing jobs in the city this year.

“There were more jobs with lesser costs this year,” she said. “Last year, we had fewer jobs at higher valuations.”

The total year-to-date valuation as of Oct. 31, is estimated at $12,821,568. The year-to-date valuation from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, 2009, was $12,491,581.

Nineteen of the permits issued this year as of Oct. 31 were for living units compared to 13 permits issued for living units, as of Oct. 31, 2009.

In October 2010 alone, Albert Lea’s Inspection Department issued a total of 144 permits, with an estimated valuation of $2,470,621.

Two of those were for new homes: a single family dwelling at 2350 W. 9th St. in Albert Lea, estimated at $267,000 and another at 1630 Keystone Dr. in Albert Lea, estimated at $200,000.

The city also issued a permit to Hy-Vee Food Stores at 2708 Bridge Ave. for a small addition to the liquor store, estimated at $85,000.

Riverland College, 2200 Tech Dr., was issued a permit estimated at $114,500 for the installation of a wind turbine generator.

The Freeborn County Planning and Zoning Office issued 55 permits in October with an estimated valuation of $1,848,594.

Twenty-two of these permits were for new roofing and siding while three of these were for new homes.

The year-to-date total estimated valuation of building permits issued in the county, as of Oct. 31, is $12,481,015.