Clayton Park, Nova Scotia

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Clayton Park is a Canadian suburban development in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality inside the community and former city of Halifax.

[edit] Original development

Located along the southwestern border of Rockingham and bordering the northern part of Fairview, Clayton Park is named after a family that owned property in the area extending up the southern slope of Geizer's Hill.

The Clayton Park development began on July 12, 1962 when it received approval from the Municipality of the County of Halifax. Clayton Park, Rockingham and Fairview were all amalgamated into the city of Halifax in 1969. As regional water and sewer services extended post-1969, residential and commercial development followed until the main phase was completed by the late 1970s and early 1980s, with part of the development being altered slightly to the south side of Geizer's Hill in 1975.

Clayton Park was created as an upper middle class community and its prime developer was the Shaw company, which placed certain architectural requirements for houses and apartments, among which was a high percentage of brick; Shaw being the largest brick manufacturer in Atlantic Canada.

[edit] Clayton Park West

The completion of the Dunbrack Street/North West Arm Drive connectors with the Highway 102 freeway during the 1980s, followed by an extension of Lacewood Drive to Highway 102 and adjacent Bayer's Lake Industrial Park during the 1990s saw the Shaw company create an extension to Clayton Park named "Clayton Park West", or CPW for short.

CPW was envisioned to be a mixture of condominiums, single-family and multi-family residences and upscale apartments with complementary retail developments. The development was planned to fill in over a 20-year period, however a change to the Bayer's Lake Industrial Park (BLIP) from light industrial to businesses mostly consisting of warehouse-style retailers (it was renamed to Bayer's Lake Business Park), saw CPW expand with the highest rate of urban growth in Nova Scotia's history. CPW was filled within 4 years and now extends Rockingham from the Bedford Basin to Highway 102.

Clayton Park has one of the highest population densities in metro Halifax with a population of more than 23,000 as of 2006, and is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of Nova Scotia, with people of more than two dozen cultures being residents. The area is popular among new arrivals to the Halifax area due to the large number of high density apartment complexes and condominiums.