Baker District redevelopment
Consultation has concluded

Welcome to the Online Engagement for the Baker District Redevelopment!
The Urban Design Master Plan shows how all the elements of the Baker District—residential, commercial, parking and open space—fit together and connect.
Land Acknowledgement
In planning for the redevelopment of this area of Guelph, we are reminded that Guelph is situated on treaty land that is steeped in the rich history of Indigenous Peoples and home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis people today.
As a City we have a responsibility for the stewardship of the land on which we live and work.
We acknowledge the Mississaugas of theContinue reading
Welcome to the Online Engagement for the Baker District Redevelopment!
The Urban Design Master Plan shows how all the elements of the Baker District—residential, commercial, parking and open space—fit together and connect.
Land Acknowledgement
In planning for the redevelopment of this area of Guelph, we are reminded that Guelph is situated on treaty land that is steeped in the rich history of Indigenous Peoples and home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis people today.
As a City we have a responsibility for the stewardship of the land on which we live and work.
We acknowledge the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation of the Anishinaabek Peoples on whose traditional territory the Baker District Redevelopment will be built.
Designs for new library unveiled
The Guelph Public Library Board of Directors has approved the schematic design for the new Central Library recently presented by Diamond Schmitt Architects, including interior and exterior renderings.
New central Guelph Public Library design images
The approved schematic design for the new library was informed by input gathered over two years of community engagement and addresses the broad range of needs identified by people in Guelph including naturally lit open and private meeting spaces with connections for audio and video sharing, a cutting-edge makerspace with technology available to all, catering amenities, space for the Library’s significant archives collection and a place for people to gather, celebrate, listen, read and learn.
Building a Better Food Future:
Windmill Developments is thrilled to present the video series, “Sowing Change,” which explores the question: What does it take to build a better food future?
In partnership with the City of Guelph, Windmill is developing a model sustainable community in the heart of downtown Guelph, called the Baker District. Unique to this project is a focus on making the Baker District a community that promotes and celebrates local and sustainable food.
Guelph has a thriving food community that the Baker District aims to strengthen and support. Through the Sowing Change video series, Windmill intends to shine a spotlight on leaders within Guelph’s food community who are helping to create a more sustainable, accessible and resilient food system. Together, we will explore how we can build a better food system in Guelph and across Canada.
Imagine a food system where there’s no such thing as waste and where every resident has access to the healthy, nutritious food they need. Sound too good to be true? Not for the City of Guelph. In this interview with Barb Swartzentruber of Our Food Future, learn more about how the City of Guelph is actively building Canada’s first circular food economy.
Baker District Redevelopment Overview
We’re transforming the existing Baker Street municipal parking lot and adjacent properties into a compact district nestled in Guelph’s historic core that will create a renewed area of activity, commerce and civic space for the local community and city.
This welcoming and publicly-accessible integrated civic hub—known as Baker District—is anchored by a new central Guelph Public Library and outdoor urban square, and features residential units, commercial and potential institutional space, and public parking.
As a landmark city-building initiative, the Baker District redevelopment further revitalizes our downtown and—by extension—improves our entire city’s economic and social prosperity.
This means:
- more people living downtown and contributing to the City’s tax base to fund municipal programs and service
- more jobs due to an increase in demand for retail and commercial services
- an increase in retail spending for current and new businesses
- more people visiting and learning downtown; contributing to a vibrant and healthy downtown
The project also contributes to Guelph’s growth target: a population of 191,000 people and an employment base of 101,000 jobs by 2041. Specifically, the City’s Official Plan has Guelph’s downtown being planned to achieve a density target of 150 people and jobs combined per hectare by 2031 and to be a focus for high density employment, residential development, public infrastructure and services, and multimodal transportation.
For more information about the project, visit guelph.ca/bakerdistrict
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Your comments
about 2 years agoCLOSED: This ideas has concluded.Have a look at the presentation and provide your comments here.
kylejover 2 years agoToo Much Space for Cars, Not Enough for People
Overall this Baker Street Urban Design Master Plan is a major disappointment. For a project that prides itself on sustainable design practices, there is far too much space dedicated to cars, with the pedestrian space either shared with cars, or broken up into small spaces across the site. ` Baker Court: This should be a pedestrian only area between Baker Street and the square at Wyndham. Instead, it’s space that is shared with cars. It’s made even less attractive by putting the residential entrances along Baker Court. This is a missed opportunity for putting the retail along this space with a marketing zone area in front to animate the area. The residential entrances could be placed along Baker Street instead. Park Lane (North): This area would be fine, if it weren’t for the road cutting through the north tower. The first floor frontage of the north tower should continue along Baker Court to hide the servicing/parking access of Park Lane North behind the building. Chapel Lane/Park Lane (South): While I would be happy to be proven wrong, I just can’t imagine this space being the pleasant shared space that this plan imagines it to be. With access for the Wellington County Building parking lot, the parking garage for the library, and servicing for the buildings along Wyndham and Quebec Streets, this street is full of uses that aren’t particularly attractive for a pedestrian. I would prefer to see the library turn its back on this space. This would allow the library to move the proposed garbage collection off of Baker Street, and into this space, keeping Baker Street more pleasant. Wellington Building Parking Lot: This is a huge hole in the site. I would hope that every possible effort is made to work with the County to move this parking into the underground garage, freeing this area to either extend Library Square, or allow another small building on the site, better framing Baker Court. Loss of Library Lane: While I’m happy that there is no longer a plan for a cut through for cars as Library Lane was in the old design, it’s disappointing that we’re losing that strong connection from Wyndham to Baker street in this new plan. If the city were to acquire the building at 148 Wyndham, Baker Court could be extended as a pedestrian only space across the site. This would then allow the north tower podium to be extended all the way to Wyndham. Instead of framing the Wyndham Urban square with Wyndham near Eramosa (too many cars), and the blank walls of the concert theatre, this enlarged Baker Court would be framed by the active frontage along the north tower, and by the beautiful Dominion Public building. Overall Pedestrian Realm: For a site in the middle of Downtown to have vehicular access on the north, mid and south ends of the site is incredibly disappointing. I would hope for a better design that limits vehicles to only one or two of the parts of the site. My preference would be to keep Baker Court car free, and use both halves of Park Lane for serving and parking access, as far from pedestrians as possible. Incidentally, there are 102 matches for the word “Parking” in this report, but only 66 for “pedestrian”. It certainly feels that parking is of far higher concern than pedestrians are. Affordable Housing: Windmill intends for only 12% of the housing built on this site to be deemed affordable (if indeed any at all). This is a shamefully low amount considering the crisis we face in a lack of affordable housing options. With the library only being 3 storeys tall, on a site the Downtown Secondary Plan allows for 6, it would be great to have the City develop three storeys of entirely affordable housing on top of the library. While this does add risk and complexity to the project, the current alternative leaves the site underdeveloped. Conclusion: Lest this be entirely negative, I do want to say I’m excited that this development is going forward. We need a new library and it’s great to add more housing and retail space downtown. I just wish this was a development that considered people more in it’s urban design. As we’ve seen last year with the success of the Dining District program, there’s huge demand for a downtown built for people, and this project presents a fantastic opportunity for great pedestrian spaces.
2 comments0Beverlyover 2 years agoChange locations
I love the idea of having a new library in the downtown area and I think it's long overdue, however I think the location could be better. A library that is on the periphery of downtown, that can provide plenty of parking and potential for expansion in the future, would be a better choice. Also I would like to see a library location that is not part of a multi-use space. The current plan will appeal to only a select group of residents. Don't we want one that will attract all?
1 comment0DGBAover 2 years agoDowntown Guelph Business Association not in support
Recieved from the DGBA: On Wednesday June 9th the Downtown Guelph Business Association held a special Board meeting to consider the Baker District Urban Design Master Plan. It was decided by resolution that we do not accept the proposal articulated within and are, therefore, not in support of it. We will be asking City Council to reject it when it comes before them. Read more The reason for our decision has already been expressed by the DGBA in response to previous iterations of the UDMP, and we remain seriously concerned that the project as described is significantly diminished and does not come close to realizing the vision called for in the RFP that the developers answered to. Simply put, Guelph is not getting what it asked for. Moreover, when we were consulted – as directed by Council – to give feedback, we pointed out those serious flaws and offered ways that they may be mitigated. None of those concerns have been addressed in this plan; indeed, some have become worse. We asked, as well, for an update to the 2014 Proforma so that we can all be clear on the economic impact that this plan, once built out, will generate. That is missing from the UDMP. Also missing are studies and reports on servicing, traffic, public safety impacts, and where the Downtown Parking Master Plan, the Downtown Secondary Plan, and the Streetscape Manual all align with Baker. We believe that developing a UDMP requires foundational technical information otherwise the whole thing is subjective. To reiterate, our main areas of concern in the UDMP are: 1. Connectivity: the Library, which is the lone public asset and attraction, is hidden from the main streets. 2. Baker Street: despite proposed changes, Baker will always read as a secondary street with negligible opportunity for upgrade on the west side – and choked entrances at either end. 3. Public Squares: we are unconvinced that they are needed, nor do we believe that they will contribute much in the way of Economic Development. As articulated, they may well prove to be detractors, rather than attractors. 4. Reduced footprint: step one, done before any shovels go in the ground, should be to acquire the buildings identified as necessary for the project. The reduction of that footprint impacts everything and seriously compromises the economic impact that the original vision projected. 5. Public Parking: the final UDMP is vague on what will be available, saying only that the number of stalls is “approximate” at this time, and that whatever is built is dependent on the budget to be confirmed by Council at the July 2021 meeting. The UDMP should contain a costed plan for what is needed to support the parking infrastructure, not presented -- as it is here -- as an afterthought. Such vague notions and ambiguous language should have no place in this plan: without a commitment to the number of stalls, as well as a solid, precise, and widely agreed upon understanding of the impact this project will have on the Downtown public parking ecosystem, the overall UDMP is a failure. As I stated in our last response, the DGBA is committed to supporting a Baker Development that is worthy of what is the last site we have for a mixed-use Economic Development powerhouse anchored by a new Main Library. We believe that what remains of the vision -- as articulated in this final UDMP – plus the lack of detailed economic analysis may well make things worse for the commercial and cultural life of Downtown Guelph. For all these reasons and more, it is impossible for the DGBA to support the UDMP as presented.
0 comment0Paul Tover 2 years agoFuture proof library and roof top public green space
The library should be structured to support future improvements or expansion vertically such as additional floors as demands increases. A public green space on the roof of the library with outdoor stairs to ground level would be awesome.
0 comment0Maureenabout 2 years agoPedestrian mall
Close off some downtown streets (Carden?) permanently and have an accessible and communication inspires “pedestrian mall” eg Victoria BC, Ottawa, Iowa City
0 comment0
Videos
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Click here to play video Urban Design Master Plan for the Baker District redevelopment report The Urban Design Master Plan shows how all the elements of the Baker District—residential, commercial, parking and open space—fit together and connect.
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Click here to play video Presentation for Baker District redevelopment. Presentation for Baker District redevelopment.
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Click here to play video Sowing Change Windmill Developments is thrilled to present the video series, “Sowing Change,” which explores the question: what does it take to build a better food future? In partnership with the City of Guelph, Windmill is developing a model sustainable community in the heart of downtown Guelph, called the Baker District. Unique to this development is a focus on making the Baker District a community that promotes and celebrates local and sustainable food. Guelph has a thriving food community that the Baker District aims to strengthen and support. Through the Sowing Change video series, Windmill intends to shine a spotlight on leaders within Guelph’s food community who are helping to create a more sustainable, accessible and resilient food system. Together, we will explore how we can build a better food system in Guelph and across Canada.
Document Library
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Baker District Redevelopment Urban Design Master Plan
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Baker Engagement Summary Report_meeting4.pdf (15.2 MB) (pdf)
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Baker_Urban_Design_Master_Plan_Presentation_June_2020.pptx (65.8 MB) (pptx)
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Baker_Urban_Design_Master_Plan_June_2020_Presentation.pdf (18.1 MB) (pdf)
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Baker_Presentation_June_2020_Transcript.pdf (131 KB) (pdf)
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Baker District Redevelopment Update report to Council - September, 2019
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Public open house summary report May 29, 2019
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Baker District redevelopment public open house presentation May 29, 2019
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May 29, 2019 open house information boards (40.3 MB) (zip)
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Downtown_Guelph_BA_letter June 14 2021 on Baker UDMP.pdf (1.11 MB) (pdf)
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Baker District Library engagement summary.pdf (115 KB) (pdf)
Project Timeline
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Phase 1 - Project Introduction (October 2018 - January 2019)
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stage"Where we have been"
In this phase we will provide the background and history on the project, introduce the project team and set the stage for future conversations about the Baker District Redevelopment.
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Public Open House - November 29 2018
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stage -
Public Workshop - January 15 2019
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stage -
Phase 2 - Listening (January 2019 - March 2019)
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stage"Where we are"
In this phase we will be entering into deeper conversations with the community about the goals for the Baker District and Library.
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Phase 3 - Validating (March-April 2019)
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stage"Where we are going"
In this phase we will share the preliminary Baker District Urban Design Master Plan and Library program with the community to ensure we are on the right track.
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Public Open House - May 29, 2019
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stage -
Council Report and Presentation (September 16, 2019)
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stageCouncil Chambers, City Hall, 6 p.m.
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Phase 4 - Presenting (December 2019-June 2020)
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stage"Where we are going"
In this phase we will present the refined Baker District Urban Design Master Plan, final library program and concept design to the community.
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Virtual Open House – June 11 to 30, 2020
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stageWatch the online presentation about the Urban Design Master Plan and ask questions or share your comments by June 30. We’ll answer your questions publicly on our site for everyone’s benefit.
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Council Approval (library relocation) - October 7, 2020
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stageCouncil approves project pivot to relocate the library to the south area of the site
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Urban Design Master Plan Update - May 2021
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stageUpdate to Urban Design Master Plan and library design to reflect approved changes
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Virtual Information Session - May 31 - June 11
Baker District redevelopment has finished this stageView the online presentation for an overview of the Urban Design Master Plan for the Baker Street Redevelopment and ask questions or share comments.
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Council Report and Presentation - July 21, 2021
Baker District redevelopment is currently at this stage
Key Dates
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July 21 2021
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May 31 → June 11 2021
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October 05 → October 07 2020
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June 11 → June 30 2020