Guelph is
Wellington County’s largest
city. It lies 100 kilometres west of Toronto (City of Guelph, 2009)
and is part of the
densely populated Southern Ontario seen in figure
1. Guelph’s boundaries cover 378.45 square
kilometres (Statistics Canada, 2006).
According to Statistics
Canada’s 2006 census, Guelph has seen an 8.2 percent population
increase from
its 2001survey (Statistics
Canada, 2006).
In 2006 the population reached 117,344 citizens (Statistics Canada, 2006).
The Greater Toronto
Area continues to expand in all directions and this expansion has
resulted in
an increase in urban growth in surrounding areas to support a commuting
population. Much of Guelph’s growth can be seen in the southern portion
of the
city (figure 2),
closest to Highway 401. Neighbouring cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and
Cambridge
have seen massive growth due to thriving technology and education
sectors.
Guelph’s education and agricultural sectors help to encourage
population growth
for the city.
Guelph has two full
recreation centres and access
to school and other community recreation spaces as seen in figure 3. Watson and
Associates (2008) estimated that there is 3.42 square feet of
recreation
building space per Guelph resident (2008, pp. 5-6).
The Victoria Road Recreation Centre was built in the 1970’s (Hallett, 2007)
and will need major updates to continue
to meet the demands of the community (Monteith
Brown Planning Consultants et al, July 2009). The West End
Recreation
Centre offers many of the same amenities that a new facility should
offer. It
occupies an area of 12,495 square meters (Monteith
Brown Planning Consultants, et al, July 2009, p.124). These
facilities,
in conjunction with the pool at Centennial Vocational Institute
(C.V.I.),
Centennial Park Arena and Exhibition Park Arena, are not enough to meet
the recreation
demands of the city’s growing population, seen in figure 3 (Monteith Brown Planning Consultants
et al, July 2009).
There are also facilities
located at the University of Guelph and the YMCA/YWCA but these are not
municipally funded and are therefore not freely accessible to the
general
public. It is expected
that the
population of
Guelph will reach 169,000 by 2031 (Watson & Associates
Economists Ltd., 2008).
The majority of this growth is
expected to occur in the south end and will be predominately young
families
with children (Monteith Brown Planning
Consultants, et al July 2009). |
