If you think downtown Toronto is crowded now, brace yourself.  The city’s chief planner says the population will almost double over the next 25 years.

Jennifer Keesmaat says a building boom and a baby boom will bring more and more people to the area.

The current population of Toronto’s core is believed to be about 250-thousand.  It’s expected to grow to about 475-thousand by 2041.

Between 2008 and 2011, a mini-baby boom saw a 60% increase in the number of children under 5 years old in the so called “Waterfront Communities”.  In the Bay Street Corridor and Liberty Village areas the increase was 33%.

The city is launching a website to solicit public input and Keesmaat says there will be public consultations to ensure there is adequate infrastructure to deal with the population increase.