Aylmer has been the sector of Gatineau with the most housing starts since 2007, according the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CBC)A robust building boom in Aylmer is changing the character of the historic community and putting pressure on the local infrastructure.

"It's starting to feel, I think, almost a little bit more like Barrhaven or a little bit more like Kanata — a bedroom community," said Amanda Knox, who grew up in Aylmer and recently returned with her husband and three young sons after years away.

"Part of the reason we moved here was because it was almost like a small town feel, but fifteen minutes from downtown [Ottawa],"

She worries that Aylmer is losing its community pride as more people who work in Ottawa move in and treat it as a bedroom community.

Aylmer, settled in the early 1800s, was the administrative centre for the Outaouais region from 1847 to 1897. It boasts the largest concentration of heritage buildings in the Outaouais, including the Symmes Inn, built in 1831, and a courthouse built in 1843.

But in recent years, sprawling housing developments of nearly identical, suburban brick homes have sprung up and surrounded the former town centre.

'I don’t think Gatineau’s being very responsible with their building,' said Amanda Knox. She worries that infrastructure isn't keeping pace with growth. (CBC)Since 2007, Aylmer has been the sector of Gatineau with the most housing starts — about half of the city's new construction, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The CMHC expects Aylmer to maintain its lead in 2010, when the agency forecasts that 3,000 new housing units will be built across the city.

A public consultation is scheduled for May 12 about a new development on the lands of the former Hippodrome d'Aylmer racetrack, where 125 new housing units have already been approved. Just last week, a local residents' group concerned about the development, les Amis de Wychwood, appeared before Gatineau city council to criticize the "suburbanization" of Aylmer.

Knox is on a neighbourhood committee that sees plans from developers before the homes are ever built. She thinks Aylmer isn't well equipped to handle the continuing influx.

"There is no infrastructure to support the thousands of homes that are going in over the next few years," she said. "I don't think Gatineau's being very responsible with their building …[It's] way too fast, way too many, and no widening of the main roads or anything."

She suggested that the community's services were better before it amalgamated with several other local communities to create the new City of Gatineau in 2002.

Infrastructure crunch

Stefan Psenak, city councillor for Aylmer ward, said a lot of the development that is underway right now in Aylmer was actually planned before amalgamation.

Coun. Stefan Psenak, shown here following his election in November, said a lot of the development underway in Aylmer was planned before amalgamation. (CBC)"What has been done has been done. And there's not much we can do," he added. "We can only look forward and try to do a more integrated and more harmonious development."

He admitted the city is growing fast, and that does put pressure on services.

"Already we can see it. We have problems. We don't have money to fix as many streets as we would like to do," said Psenak, who has represents the western-most of the three wards that cover Aylmer since the municipal election four months ago.

The city is building close to 14 kilometres of new roads a year that need to be maintained, he said. Even if developers initially pay for new water pipes, sewers and lighting, the city ultimately must handle their upkeep them along with other residential services such as garbage, recycling, libraries, pools and arenas.

"We are taking it very seriously," he said.

The city is going to review its urban plan this year, as well as its plan for locating different types of commercial development, from small cafes to big box stores like Wal-Mart, he said.

He urged residents to come to city consultations like the one on May 12 with their ideas for future developments.

"If we're going to make...great urban villages with good stores, shops, restaurants, what we need to do is create a milieu de vie – a place where people would not only come here to sleep," Psenak said, "but to live and spend their money and go to the restaurant and the cinema."

In order for people to choose Aylmer for reasons other than the lower property prices, the city must foster a better sense of community, he added.

"And building a sense of community could be one of our biggest challenges."