From years of sitting vacant, a patch of land becomes a hive of activity as backhoes carve up the earth, and trucks transporting tons of building materials thunder along nearby roads.

The image has been a common one in Abbotsford in the past five years, with building booming as B.C.’s fifth-largest city attempts to find the housing for a growing population that continues to swell.

A burgeoning number of people has also resulted in a greater demand for services.

The new Abbotsford hospital and three multi-million dollar Plan A projects are just a handful of the buildings constructed in a bid to help improve the life and lifestyles of local people.

Some estimates suggest that the number of residents calling Abbotsford home could double in the next 30 years, with even the most conservative expecting the population to hit at least 200,000 from its current figure of 134,000.

It is likely to mean far fewer single family developments sprawled over massive lots, as land becomes a premium.

That is already happening, according to City of Abbotsford statistics, which show that the number of apartments and townhouses is increasing.

Back in 1981, multi-family housing (townhomes and apartments) made up only 30 per cent of the city’s housing stock. Twenty years later, that total was up to 40 per cent.

Demographics have pushed many of these changes. For one, the city has reported that the number of households in Abbotsford containing just one person have increased from 18 per cent in 1991 to 23 per cent in 2006.

Abbotsford Mayor George Peary moved to the city in 1973.

While describing Abbotsford as a “tiny little community” at that time, Peary said development has been steady since then and has accelerated hard in the past five years.

He now expects Abbotsford to swiftly grow upwards instead of outwards.

“The nature of development is going to be changing dramatically over the next decade or two in the city,” he said. “Everyone agrees that the time of urban sprawl is coming to an end.”

There are already building constraints in Abbotsford, Peary said, with three-quarters of its land sitting in the Agricultural Land Reserve.

When the economy improves, Peary also expects to see more high-rise applications at the council table.

“The challenge for the politicians will be to accommodate more people without chopping down trees and developing on the side of the mountain, and we will do that, that’s for sure,” he said.

More people living in closer proximity should, at least in theory, mean a busier transit system.

Numbers appear to be pointing in that direction, with ridership in Abbotsford and Mission up 12 per cent from 2007 to 2008.