What Development Lies Ahead in Wasaga Beach
Each year we attend a Panel of Planners seminar, which is attended by local municipal planners. This year, planners from The Blue Mountains, Clearview Township, Collingwood, Meaford, Tiny Township and Wasaga Beach were all in attendance. We’ll be posting summaries from each of the planners here on the blog.
WASAGA BEACH
Current Residential Growth:
- 67 active developments
- Wasaga Beach is a destination for retirees, and has a growing aging population
- 2011: 29.1% of residents were over 65 years of age, and 46.6% over 55 years of age
- medium and high density growth has been a significant component of Wasaga’s residential development with a mix of leisure and retirement housing (where single detached is not the norm.)
- 631 Building permits were issued up to December 2013 (vs. 595 in total for 2012)
- Active and proposed developments as of November 2013 were: 6766 total residential units, as follows:
- 508 Modular
- 1104 Proposed condo
- 1029 Proposed Subdivision Units
- 3163 Units under DRAFT Plan of Subdivision approved
- 962 Subdivision/Development under construction
- Wasaga’s planners feel that sustained population growth levels of 2-3% can be expected over the next 20 years.
- Continuing projects include: Hamount’s Stonebridge; Baywood Homes; Coral Sunrise; Hamount Residential; Westbury Road; Park Bridge’s Park Place Country Meadows and Wasaga Meadows East; Baycliff Homes Villas of Upper Wasaga
- New or Future Projects: Baywood Homes (New England Village); Pacific Homes (Sunnidale Trails Secondary Plan Area) and Zancor Homes Trillium Forest North.
- Institutionally speaking they are completing an affordable housing project in 2013; Knox Rd. servicing 2013/14; Powerline Road and Zoo Park Road projects in 2015; Youth Centre 2015; and Main Street Bridge Rehab 2015/2016
- Commercially – New Highway 26 Regional Mall of approximately 353,000 sq.ft. proposed; New Casino ?
- Beach Area 1 and 2 – Long Term Redevelopment and Investment Opportunities exist – Mixed uses with Commercial and Residential
- Currently they are considering options around TAC – Tourist Accommodation Conversions – there will be stakeholder meetings to discuss options re lack of variety of housing stock, rental housing units, and affordable housing; low demand for off season tourist accommodation and business owners looking to supplement income during peak tourist season. They have already done some identifying of properties which would qualify for conversion.
- Accessory apartments were discussed pursuant to Provincial Policy Statement of 2005
Read Part 1 About The Blue Mountains Here
Hi Marg,
Just thought I’d ask you a question with reference to your last paragraph where you mention TAC and some properties which would qualify for conversion. My question is, where can I find the list of the qualifying properties? Please advise. Thanks in advance for your response!
Hi Tina
As some time has now passed since that session, I think that’s a question for you to ask the planning department at the Town of Wasaga Beach where you’ll get the most direct and accurate answer.
Thanks for your comment.