The demarcation line between the City of Guelph and Guelph-Eramosa Township is a clear one along Victoria Road South. The city is the side with new residential development filling in all available space, the township is to the east of Victoria Road South, and mostly fields.
Guelph is mandated by the Province of Ontario to grow its population significantly over the next roughly 15 years, a requirement under the Places to Grow Act legislation of 2005.
The act was developed as a way to better manage population growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area of southern Ontario.
At the time the act was passed, Guelph’s population was about 115,000. It is now just over 131,000. An amendment to the act in 2013 set Guelph’s population target at 177,000 by 2031, and 191,000 by 2041.
The city’s plan has been to contain that growth within the existing boundaries of the city, without annexing land from the county. Victoria Road South from just south of Stone Road East to Maltby Road East is the boundary line.
A number of developers have speedily filled in available lands along that line over the past half-dozen or so years. Over that time, property values in the city have risen steadily.
Right now, one of the largest developments just off of Victoria Road S. is Fusion Homes’ Solterra neighbourhood, a mix of single-detached and semi-detached homes ranging in price from about $560,000 to $1.3 million. Construction activity in the neighbourhood is hectic, with new streets like McCann Street off MacAlister Boulevard filling in. There remains a lot of land left to build on in the zone.
Elsewhere in the general area of southeast Guelph, Granite Homes is into Phase 5 of its Gallery Towns project along Arkell Road.
