There’s not much land left to build on in east side Guelph. The residential nodes are filling up, as the city moves steadily towards it population growth targets.
Under the province’s Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area, Guelph is in line to grow to 175,000 over the next 15 years, and to as much as 191,000 by 2041. The population currently stands at around 128,000.
The city’s plan is to accommodate that population swell by bursting at the seams – keeping residential development within the existing city boundaries, and avoiding further sprawl out into surrounding agricultural lands.
In recent years, a number of plots of farmland within those boundaries have become new neighbourhoods.
Chris DeVriendt, senior development planner with the city said development lands east of Watson Parkway N. have filled in with a number of subdivisions in recent years.
“It has been developing gradually, and consistently,” he said. “You are not seeing a lot of large greenfield sites anymore. They’ve kind of all filled in. Now you are seeing smaller pockets of development fill in.”
There is not much land to build on in that area of the city, DeVriendt and others said.
Granite Homes’ The Highland project is nearing completion on Eastview Road, with large townhomes along Eastview now under construction. Gemini Homes and Cityviews Homes are also building on the same land.
Mike Taylor, Granite Homes’ vice-president of marketing, said land is getting hard to find within Guelph’s boundaries.
“There is not much land available in Guelph, with the largest supply being from Clair Road S. to Maltby Road,” Taylor said in an email. “But this is still in the planning process.”
DeVriendt said a commercial node at the intersection of Watson and Starwood Drive is one of the few east side sites remaining for commercial and residential development. Some projects have recently been approved.
A number of DG Group townhouses and stacked townhouses are now under construction on land immediately adjacent to and north of the Guelph Public Library’s east branch.
South of the library, immediately across Starwood, is land owned by Loblaws. It has sat vacant for many years, and remains the subject of much speculation as to what the company’s plans are for it.
“Opposite the library, across from Starwood, there is a triangular piece of land that is approved for development,” DeVriendt said, adding that Coletara Developments has been approved for mid-rise condominium development on the property.
“What you would want to see next year are commercial nodes in there,” DeVriendt said. He added that west of the Starwood/Watson properties there is development land off Keating Street, near Lee Street Park. A development there is the subject of draft plans for a subdivision.
Requiring new public roads, it would be a mix of single-detached homes, townhouses, and apartments along Cityview Drive N.
“That is one of the bigger sites left to be developed,” he said.
