wolfville expects to grow by 3,000 people as construction and development ramps up
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wolfville mayor jody mackay says buildings like this four-storey commercial and residential development on main street are helping drive growth that could see another 2,000 to 3,000 residents in the next decade.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
wolfville is expecting to add thousands of residents over the next 10 years as development ramps up in the annapolis valley town.
after a couple of significant spikes in the 1990s, the permanent population of the town dropped in 2001 to 3,658. in the next 20 years, though, it grew to just over 5,000. there has been a great deal of development and construction since then, and that construction boom is continuing.
a new four-storey commercial and residential building is nearing completion on main street, just down the road from a three-storey building with micro boutique apartments.
on maple avenue, in the town’s east end, another four-storey building is being built near the entrance to a development that will feature mostly townhouses. the roads and infrastructure are in place, and construction is underway. another development on the other side of maple avenue isn’t as advanced but is in the works. the two developments are expected to add another 1,000 people to the town.
this apartment building on maple street in wolfville is part of major development in the east end of town.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
in the woodman grove development on the north side of town, the last of six three-storey apartment buildings is nearing completion.
planning for growth
“over the next 10 years, you’ll see 2,000 to 3,000 people is my guess after everything is built out,” wolfville mayor jodi mackay said.
a previous council had been planning for 3,500 more people and density that included a six-storey building.
“we’ve downgraded; we went through our municipal planning strategy and land-use bylaw,” mackay said. “when we first started, r-1 (zoning) was supposed to be four units as of right, and now it’s two, including a suite or accessory unit.”
reducing planned density was a result of reduced demand over the past six years.
“we just didn’t see the influx in numbers, and no one is going to develop things if they don’t get sold,” she said. “we want them done well, and we want to still maintain the character of the town and do the design in a nice way. . . . we wanted it to still feel like wolfville.”
these townhouses are among the first buildings going up in a new development off maple avenue in wolfville.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
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she said the town doesn’t have large sections where all homes look the same.
“we are hoping that slow growth will allow for more diversity in what the buildings look like.”
as wolfville grows, though, there is potentially a need for a new school to deal with more students, the mayor said. more people also means a need for more doctors, dentists and other services and stores.
business and parking
businesses in the town welcome the prospect of more residents and therefore more customers.
brandon wight, manager of the market on main street, has worked there for a decade and said the new developments in the town should be good for local businesses.
this three-storey apartment building is the sixth to be built in the woodman grove development in wolfville.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
“i’d like to think so, for sure. expanding the community that much further shouldn’t hurt local businesses.”
but, wight said, parking is always an issue, and “hopefully they might have some kind of remedy to coincide with the development happening. i’m not sure how or where they might go about doing that, but just from a business perspective, especially being on main street, that seems to always be a major issue for people coming in and visiting.”
brandon wight, the manager of the market on main street in wolfville, said parking is one of the things he hears most about from people visiting the town, and while a potential increase of 3,000 new residents because of development is good for the town, he hopes measures are taken at the same time to alleviate parking issues.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
jaime harvey is the owner of jane’s again. she said any population increase will be good for businesses, especially small outfits.
“i think it will turn into new customers, but i also think they’re going to have to worry about parking and traffic,” she said “more people and more shoppers are great, but are they planning for that now?”
it can already be challenging, she said, especially for businesses on main street.
“it would be reassuring to know there are plans for that. more housing is great, there’s a need for that, but there needs to be a plan.”
she said schools, charging stations for electric vehicles and more have to be considered as the town grows.
jaime harvey (left), the owner of jane’s on main street in wolfville, and employee cheryl robinson say new residential growth in the town will be good for small businesses, but that parking and traffic issues need to be addressed as part of that growth.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
parking, traffic flow planning
the town’s water and sewer infrastructure has been upgraded to handle future increased demand, mackay said, but dealing with parking and traffic issues is a priority that needs to be addressed, especially with the town’s narrow main street.
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“we’re still looking at more active transportation. we have that kind of group of people who live here anyway, and we’ll be looking at micro-transit,” she said. “that, i think, will take a little more time for people to buy into it.”
micro-transit involves smaller buses that would be owned by the town and do shorter runs in the community or operate on an on-call basis.
the town is also trying things to move traffic along main street more efficiently, including using a crossing guard to control pedestrian traffic at the intersection with university avenue. that crosswalk can cause long waits because of a steady stream of acadia university students crossing between classes.
the town is also looking at opening up some public parking spaces near the downtown in a new lot, mackay said, with the area expanding as the needs increase.
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