Main Navigation

Growth Management Strategy

Kitchener's population is always on the rise. Every year, more and more people - from students and young professionals to families and older adults - are choosing to make our city their home. We welcome all of our new residents - as well as the tremendous diversity they bring to our community.

We also know though that in order to accommodate these new faces in a positive way for our whole community, and sustain all of the features that make our city a great place to live - we need to manage our growth properly - and responsibly.

In other words, we know it's not a question of "if" we grow or "should" we grow - it is a question of "how" we grow. Growth, done right, provides great opportunities, which include:

Minimizing air pollution.
Creating more safe and convenient neighbourhoods.
Stimulating job growth.

Our growth management strategy (KGMS) is steering us toward achieving these goals and more, providing a framework for effectively managing our growth, improving our business processes, and contributing the health and vitality of our community.

Through the strategy, we aim to:

Conserve and enhance our valued natural and cultural heritage resources.
Create vibrant urban places.
Ensure greater transportation choice.
Foster a strong economy by stimulating private-sector investment and revitalization of our employment lands, including those in the downtown; and by diversifying our local economy by targeting the growth of specific industry clusters.
Strengthen communities.
Manage change in an effective and coordinated manner.
Take advantage of opportunities to reuse and re-energize vacant lands and former industrial buildings to create mixed use developments that put jobs closer to homes.

The strategy outlines where new development will take place within our city to ensure it's complementary to our community priorities, and aligned with our future infrastructure investments.

Each year, we prepare an Annual Growth Management Monitoring Report to track the supply of development opportunities and the achievement of intensification and density targets. Click on the link below to view:

One of the key implementation items of the strategy is the Kitchener Growth Management Plan (KGMP) which is the City's evolved staging of development program.

For more information, please contact us at 519-741-2426.

Sub Navigation