SPEARFISH, S.D. (KELO) — Cities across the state are seeing some of their busiest and most expensive years yet with construction projects. That includes the city of Spearfish, which saw a record year for building permits.

From building renovations and parking lots to brand new homes and businesses, Spearfish is seeing it all.

“We knew it was coming. We’ve been growing for years. But we definitely saw an uptick over the last year and a half,” Barth said.

The 2021 record-breaking permit valuation number here in Spearfish was $98 million. Which beat the last year’s record number at almost $55 million.

Mellissa Barth with the Chamber of Commerce says the city’s economy is booming as more people move to town.

“Most new residents start as a visitor so tourism is extremely important. They come here, they visit, they see how great it is and how strong of a community and how economically it is strong, and then they want to move here,” Barth said.

While this has been an exciting time for Spearfish, City Planner, Jayna Watson, says she understands there are challenges, especially with 2022 already starting out busy.

“It means that there are certainly going to be challenges in terms of how do we take care of a growing inventory of streets, a growing inventory of citizens who use our park system. That is the big challenge is how to pay for all the growth once it’s here,” Watson said.

“Contractors rely on steady supply of all kinds of materials and the city is no different for how that is produced and delivered to us,” Watson said.

However, the city is hopeful for the year ahead.

Last year, Spearfish saw 206 new residential units beginning construction. Rapid City and Sioux Falls also saw record-breaking permit sales last year.