Reporters have begun to sit up and take notice of the Halton Region town of Milton ever since Statistics Canada released 2006 census data in early March showing its population grew a staggering 71.4 per cent, to 53,939, over five years.
That makes Milton the fastest growing municipality in Canada, an achievement that brings as many challenges as benefits. Now the media want to know how it all happened so quickly.
Last week, New Digs painted the big picture on all the factors that contributed to Milton's staggering growth since 2001, turning it from a quaint, mostly rural town to a bona fide city (though its politicians and marketing Svengalis urge everyone to continue to refer to Milton as a town).
The fact remains that even though the 905 belt around Toronto continues to grow at a healthy rate — in the 10-per-cent range for most municipalities since 2001 — Milton's expansion indicates that new-home buyers found it had the right combination of affordability, size, convenience and attractions.
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Affordability remained surprisingly steady in Milton in spite of its growth, with an average price of $363,257 for a new detached home in 2006. This is more than $100,000 cheaper than the average prices for comparable houses in its Halton neighbours, Burlington and Oakville.
Milton is also one of only four municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area with a new-house average price under $400,000.
Then there's the town's location at the convergence of three 400-series highways and at the foot of the picturesque Niagara Escarpment and near some of the most beautiful conservation areas in Southern Ontario.
Even if you think you're immune to the slick marketing pitches of new-home builders, you may be attracted by the many positive features of Milton.
So where are all these new Miltonians living? Well, more than a few new residents have staked out Mattamy Homes' Hawthorne Village over the past four years. At least 3,500 families have already moved in to the master-planned community in the southeast corner of the town, after buying everything from townhouses and bungalows to 3,547-square-foot detached homes on 50-foot-wide lots.
Milton's planning committee approved the construction of an additional 109 detached homes by Mattamy on the west side of town off Tremaine Road, which faces the escarpment.
That's a far cry from the 2,216 that Mattamy was seeking to get approval for at the as yet unnamed community, but Halton Region felt that the sewage capacity in that end of town couldn't absorb such a large-scale project.
A sign of things to come perhaps. Neighbouring Brampton imposed a controversial cap on permits for new low-rise housing in 2005 to allow infrastructure to catch up. The cap has proven to be exceedingly popular with everybody except developers.
Another new master-planned community at the foot of the escarpment is Heathwood Homes' Traditions, designed with a very family friendly aesthetic to reflect Milton's stolid small-town past. The project was launched late last year with 600 low-rise houses and 100 townhouses. The detached homes have up to 70 feet of frontage.
The dwellings have huge appeal for young families, with a lot of set-apart gathering spaces, including separate family rooms and libraries, and vaulted ceilings. There's a large selection of house types and layouts, with more than 30 plans, ranging from 1,260 square feet at $241,000 to 4,062 square feet at $590,000.
Also off Tremaine Road will be Milton Trails, a 450-home community being built by a partnership made up of Fieldgate Homes, Greenpark Homes and Arista Homes.
Launched in late 2006, the project has townhouses, semi-detached and detached homes on offer, with prices starting at $257,000.
The escarpment and the protected areas around it have proven to be a pretty reliable drawing card. Even if living in a suburban subdivision isn't your cup of tea, Milton's natural features come as a welcome mitigating factor to long hauls on the GO Train.
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