130% job spike coming to Georgina. What, where will those new jobs be?

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 2, 2021

Georgina is home to about 750 storefront businesses, not including the growing number of home-based businesses, farms or on-farm markets.

That puts the total number of businesses at about 2,500, Karyn Stone, Georgina’s economic development manager, said.

In a typical rural town, about 70 per cent of new jobs should come from existing businesses, Stone added.

“That means the potential for job creation from within the community is significant,” she said.

“If every one of those 2,500 businesses hired two employees, that’s substantial. But that doesn’t always happen.”

Instead, Georgina is seeing the reverse -- about 70 per cent of the town’s current workforce travels beyond town boundaries, Stone said.

That’s why the town is putting its eggs in the development basket by seeking investment in employment lands and business parks as the answer to Georgina’s lack of labour.

The plan for Georgina isn’t highrise office towers. The future of employment is in logistics, warehouses and industrial businesses, Stone said.

“The market has definitely changed over the last five years,” she said. “It’s not realistic to envision office towers in Georgina. It’s more warehousing and distribution centres.”

That’s a smart move, as artificial intelligence could replace many office jobs -- accountants and event lawyers -- in the near future, said York University professor Steven Tufts from the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change. The reach of AI can be limitless, he added.

To see a business park in action, look south to Newmarket and Richmond Hill, Stone said.

In 2019, Newmarket’s dedicated employment areas, spanning more than 250 hectares, was home to more than 14,000 jobs, with a third of those jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Richmond Hill was recently selected as the home of Amazon’s new delivery facility, which is expected to bring 400 new jobs.

That’s where the town’s Business Class program comes into play, offering a seamless development approval process, Stone added. 

“It’s about making sure those businesses that provide permanent, full-time employment are able to locate in Georgina,” she said. “We want to make it as easy as possible to expand here.”

That means pulling together the right group of town staff in a timely manner to assist a business looking to locate in Georgina, she added.

The town has initiated a number of initiatives to make Georgina a go-to spot for businesses, including dedicated resources and grant programs for businesses and increased marketing of the town as a place to invest, Mayor Margaret Quirk said.

As it plans for population and employment growth to 2051, York Region has a hefty goal of seeing one job created for every two residents across the region.

While Markham and Vaughan will see about two-thirds of the jobs, Georgina, East Gwillimbury and Whitchurch-Stouffville will see the highest rates of employment growth.

For Georgina, that means about 21,900 new jobs by 2051, boosting the town’s already low job-to-resident ratio.

That’s more than a 130 per cent increase from the 9,300 local jobs listed in 2016.

And close to 70 per cent of those new jobs will be in dedicated business parks and employment lands in Keswick.

The remaining jobs are population dependent -- retail, education and hospitality.

Phase 1 of the town’s business park, owned by the Panattoni Development Company located at the north end of the 404 Logistics Park is currently in the development approval stage and is expected to generate more than 500 jobs.

“The business park is not going to build out in the next five years,” Stone said. “Business parks take time to build out. They change and adapt to market trends.”

When complete, the entire Keswick business park has the opportunity to create about 7,500 jobs.

“The ability to provide that mix of employment means more of that 70 per cent are going to be living and working in the community,” Stone said. “When that happens, they’re able to enjoy the amenities found in the community. It’s a better, more engaged community.”