NORWICH – Chenango County code regulators are benefiting from the window of time presented by a lackluster home building market in order to catch up on a backlog of open permits.

Like most areas in the nation, the number of new housing starts here have stalled. The number in Chenango County declined steadily last year from a high of 23 in July to only eight in November and December, combined.

The Chenango County Fire and Building Code Division of the Department of Public Health reports there were 2,021 open permits in all categories at the end of 2006 versus 1,739 at the conclusion of last year. The department has been tackling a consistent backlog of about 2,000 open permits since 2005 as well as conducting new inspections and issuing new permits.

There were approximately 890 new permits issued in 2007.

“You are almost at your goal of 1,500,” Finance Committee member Wayne Outwater, R-Lincklaen, said last week following the department’s report. During year-long deliberations last year about the department’s fiscal crisis and future - which ultimately resulted in putting the government unit on the county levy - Outwater repeatedly directed Bates to whittle away the number of open permits.