Ontario town expanding boundaries of once rural north community to meet massive future growth

There are very few communities in Canada that have experienced growth quite like Brooklin, a once sleepy village north of Whitby that has seen its population jump from just 1,600 in 1994 to about 30,000 today.

With the community’s population expected to top 50,000 by 2044, accommodating that massive growth while maintaining Brooklin’s small-town charm has proven to be a challenge for the Town of Whitby, which is pushing to expand its urban boundaries to find room for more housing without compromising existing areas zoned for commercial and mixed-use.

The Brooklin Community Secondary Plan was last updated in 2018 and the town – working with new provincial guidelines that no longer require upper tier (Durham Region) approval for most land-use planning decisions – held a series of open houses in 2024 and 2025 to gauge community interest in expansion.

The consensus was residents had no appetite for redesignation of either commercial use areas or employment lands to residential, leaving the town with expansion as the best option.

A motion to widen Brooklin’s urban boundaries – primarily in the northwest – will be on the agenda for Monday’s council meeting, with the expansion generally located south of Brawley Road, east of Lake Ridge Road and north of Conlin Road, with a narrow sliver west of the border with Oshawa.

The amendment provides:

• An updated Secondary Plan for the existing and expanded Brooklin community
• Updated and new land use designations and policies for Brooklin
• Lands for future employment and business opportunities
• A range and mix of housing types and affordability
• Commercial and community uses to serve existing and new residential neighbourhoods
• Protection for the natural heritage system and natural hazards
• A transportation network that serves the future needs of the Brooklin community and the Town of Whitby
• Identification of a future health precinct, including lands for a potential hospital
• Policies to enable the development of a transit supportive and pedestrian-friendly community

The staff report declared Brooklin will grow “in a manner that maintains the small-town community feel while evolving into a complete community.” The plan will see the unique heritage character of the downtown maintained with and the “vibrancy and pedestrian comfort” of Baldwin Street enhanced.

Additional retail and mixed-use development south of Winchester Road will allow Brooklin to have one downtown with an extension of the ‘main street’ character south of Winchester Road along a pedestrian promenade.

“While the community will grow in size and population, the growth will take place in a way that builds on and enhances the existing strengths of the community.”

The Town Whitby is expected to grow from the current population of 160,000 to 244,000 by 2044.

The proposed expanded areas of Brooklin shaded in red