Baker District redevelopment
Consultation has concluded
This consultation has concluded.
Thank you to everyone who engaged with us on this project.
For the most up-to-date information on the Baker District development, visit guelph.ca/bakerdistrict.
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Have a look at the presentation and provide your comments here.
View All Ideasabout 3 years ago
change placement of tall towers
I live at 55 Yarmouth and have an east facing view onto Baker Street. Looking at your plans for baker district, my future view will be an office or residential building. I’m disappointed that I will be losing my view. Why not place utilize the other end of the lot where there are low rise businesses?
about 3 years ago
Love our downtown
Our downtown has suffered tremendously during the pandemic. The Baker Street Plan is exactly what we need to revitalize it!
about 3 years ago
I really like the idea of integrating library and housing which I first saw in Umea Sweden in the late 80's. What are green features to be?
Storage for bikes, roof or ground floor garden space, heating and cooling systems that are green, building insulation, consideration of reduction in vehicles -1 per unit max?
about 3 years ago
Too 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.
about 3 years ago
Future 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.
Videos
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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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Presentation for Baker District redevelopment.
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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)
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Videos
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Presentation for Baker District redevelopment