With home buyers looking for an alternative to soaring prices and the hectic pace of Brampton, Mississauga and Toronto, Georgetown became an appealing option.

Builders began a major expansion in south Georgetown back in 2004 once it was clear that Halton Region was able to boost the area's supply of water from community wells. In those early days, buyers ranged from young entry-level couples to young families to empty nesters.

That's still the case today as people seek a quieter life.

Georgetown is the most populous community in the Town of Halton Hills, which also includes Acton and several villages and rural areas within the Niagara Escarpment.

Planners expect the population of Halton Hills to reach 70,000 by 2021.

Robert White, manager of development review for Halton Hills, said almost the entire Georgetown South area - between Main Street (Eighth Line) on the west, and Tenth Line on the east, north of Halton Region Road 10 - will eventually be developed.

He said that area of farmland was for years designated for industrial development but the Ontario Municipal Board has approved the change to residential.

Remington Homes has focused on the area to the east of Mountainview, with a plan for 1,215 homes in a number of phases.

White said housing densities in both areas are higher than the development that took place in Georgetown in the 1980s and '90s north of Argyll Road. The new homes will be bigger, too.

At the north end of existing housing in Georgetown is a huge tract of partly wooded valley that borders Silver Creek, a tributary of the Credit River.

It includes a network of trails on 120 hectares and some old-growth forest. The land is to be preserved by the Town of Halton Hills under a deal with developers that includes improvements for public use.

To the west off Argyll Road and near Main Street South is a major community park that includes children's playgrounds, a splash pad, trails, a baseball diamond and a partly constructed community centre, which will have an indoor pool. The nearest major shopping is the Georgetown Marketplace, a drive of three kilometres.

Boutique-style shopping is farther north in the old Georgetown downtown at Main St. and Mill St., where a farmers market is held Saturdays in summer.

Remington is poised to build detached homes on 32- and 40-foot lots elsewhere in Georgetown South. That project, called River Rock Ridge, is off Miller Drive at Main Street South.