Saugeen Shores continues to experience a building boom, and there's no end in sight.
Building statistics released by the municipality show $96 million worth of building permits were issued last year, up $20 million compared to 2017.
The bulk of the permits, $82 million worth, were for residential builds and Mayor Luke Charbonneau said credit belongs to past municipal officials for putting plans in place to ensure the municipality has the capability to meet the demand.
"The foresight of previous councils and previous staff and administrations in this municipality long before I was ever here, back a generation, to have planned for and prepared to have us not only be in this position today, but be ready for the next 20 years," said Charbonneau. "To grow at the same rate, we have the land, we can do that, not a lot of municipalities are in that same position."
The boom comes with challenges, namely affordable housing and a labour shortage and Charbonneau said it those issues will need to be tackled.
"We need to make sure that anybody who wants to, can live and work in Saugeen Shores, our average household income is around $120,000 a year, but we know there are many people in this community who aren't earning that kind of money," said Charbonneau. "They need to live here too, and we need to figure out how to make that happen."
The municipality is hosting a public meeting on the labour shortage on March 20 at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton.