Census reveals King is fastest growing municipality in York Region

Yorkregoin.com
Feb. 14, 2017
By Simon Martin

The fastest growing municipality in York Region the last five years isn’t who you would expect. While Markham and Vaughan continue to grow like wildfire, King Township experienced the largest growth percentage wise between 2011 to 2016.

According to national census data which was recently released, King grew from a population of 19,899 in 2011 to 24,512 in 2016. That represented a population increase of 23.2 per cent.

“While growth has occurred, it’s important to keep the numbers in the proper context,” Mayor Steve Pellegrini said. “King’s population projections top out at just under 35,000 by 2021.”

While municipalities like East Gwillimbury have massive population targets set for 2031, upwards of 75,000 people, Pellegrini said King’s population target will remain steady at 35,000.

According to King’s director of planning, Stephen Kitchen, the main drivers of the growth over the last five years was the pent up demand due to formerly unavailable servicing in King City and Nobleton.

King’s population growth has been relatively small if you look at a longer period of time. According to the 1996 census, the population was 18,223 which mean’s the township has added roughly 6,000 new people over 20-year span.

Pellegrini said the township has the benefit of having large swath of its lands being in the Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine. “That’s not going to change,” he said. “Ninety-nine per cent of the land is Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine.”

The development people are seeing in King City, Nobleton and Schomberg has long been part of the township’s official plan, Pellegrini said.

The township is now embarking on the new official plan, but Pellegrini said the population numbers look to be reasonable for the future.

“We’re looking at just over 700 more people per year for the next 14 years, which is manageable,” he said.

According to the census, the fastest growing municipality in Ontario was Milton which saw its population balloon from 84,362 to 110,128 which represented a 30.5 per cent increase. King was the 15th-fastest growing municipality in Canada. The only other York Region municipality to finish in the Top 30 was Whitchurch-Stouffville at 19.