Sydenham Heights development areas – click on map to enlarge

- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

On paper there are 2,004 housing units proposed for the south-east corner of Owen Sound. Until it snowed, Saturday was a great day for a walkabout, a litter pick and a chat, so we went to look at the ground on which they may be built.

We started out along the multi-use active transportation trail in front of Eastridge School, heading east. This is the kind of trail that is being considered for Alpha Street (our next neighbourhood destination for our April 15 tour). It has a grass boulevard between it and the road – a place to put the snow in winter – and is wide enough for cyclists, pedestrians and those with strollers or mobility devices. (It becomes an ordinary sidewalk with a guardrail on its north side in front the gas utility structure at the the corner of 8th Street and 16th Avenue, and in winter that short distance fills with ice and snow and makes you really appreciate the value of boulevards!)

We looked across to the south side of 8th Street to the 74 acre site of Flato's Greystone Village, the largest housing development in Owen Sound's history at a proposed 819 units. Just to its east is the Redhawk property, with another planned 366 units in its subdivision.

Greystone executive home	Greystone townhouses

The trail does not continue east of the hospital so we walked through the parking lot, past mature trees and Neighbourwoods North's new saplings, then north. Through the trees we could see the Telfer Creek property that was originally bought by Bremont as the site of 324 housing units, including a 230 unit “residential building”. The property was bought by Barry's Construction last year.

From the hill by the laundry and utility buildings in the northeast of the hospital property we could look toward the rail trail, and the site of Sydenham Square – commercial buildings facing 16th Street just east of Value Village, and three, three-storey 40 unit condominium buildings behind them.

Syndenham Square looking south from 16th Street East with Rail Trail upper left.

Still on the hill, the large grove of bare trees behind Walmart gave us the view that the residents of the Smart development ,will have off toward the bay.Those developers are in conversations with Chapman House to ensure their hospice families continue to have privacy, dignity and dry feet. The local deer and unhoused tenters however, may find their habitat depleted.

Smart Centres' development lot borders on hospice Chapman House

After a rest on the Neighbourwoods North benches among their carefully tended trees, we talked about why a location works for its residents, and how a "dwelling unit" – of any size or type – becomes a home.

Of the 2,004 proposed units of housing, 97 are to be single detached houses. Another 855 are semi-detached or some type of townhouse. And the other 1,052 are in buildings that could include rentals, condominiums, assisted living or long-term care.

According to the 2021 census, the average household size in Owen Sound is 2.1 people, so if all 2,004 units were built, that would represent a 20% increase in our population over the 2021 number of 21,612 residents.

If you add in the 700 units proposed for the RCA property and 224 at BCK , and the new project beside St. Francis' Place and Glassworks Co-operative, we would need growth of more than  27% in our population over 2021 to fill them. That doesn't even count what has been occupied since 2021 –the  East Court development and its Owen Sound Gardens, or the latest Odawa Heights building, 28th Street West, The Douglas apartments or the Marina View condos, or dozens of other individual homes and small developments that add up to well over 400 new units of housing and at least that many people.

The upper east side's RCA site has been approved for 700 units.

We grew by 1.3% in the five years between 2016 and 2021.

The truth of the matter is that no one – not our consultants, or Grey County's, or the most optimistic among us, is predicting that kind of growth over the next decade, or even by 2046. 

The reality is that all these developers are in competition with each other – just like the fast food restaurants and cannabis stores – for a limited number of customers with a finite capacity for using what they are selling. They have recognized our current housing squeeze, and they will be trying to be among the first on the market, with the most attractive features and/or the most competitive price.

Some of these units will sell as investments, bought by locals or out-of-towners with capital or credit who will pay the mortgage by renting them as long-term or short-term accommodation to those struggling with our very low (approximately 1.4%) vacancy rate.

Some of these units will never be built. Perhaps because, like the developer of Georgian Landing “Luxury Living Fall 2019”, they will not have the funding. More likely, some will decide phase 2 or 3 is not going to be profitable enough, and they have better prospects on land they are developing elsewhere, even in other communities in Grey or Bruce.  A drive an hour south, west or east, will take you past dozens of housing projects in progress.

If all of what has been built or is proposed in Owen Sound  IS filled with people, we will have more questions to ask and answer together. 

Grey County is considering a roundabout at 8th Street East and the proposed 20th Street extension - a first for the city - to deal with traffic.   Safety for pedestrians and cyclists will have to be built into our designs.  Municipal services like transit, safe pedestrprotective services, recreation and waste management will all need to be expanded and adapted to serve the new taxpayers who will help pay for them.

Issues beyond the specific juristiction of our municipal council will need to be discussed for the well-being of everyone in our community.  Do we have enough family physicians and other heath care professionals? Do we have adequate child care spaces? Do our schools have adequate capacity and resources for this area?

We look forward to watching the construction, and working together with the community to help build not just units, but a home for our new neighbours.