BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is an open letter to members of council regarding a proposed tower project near the city's lakeshore.
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Mayor Jeff Lehman and members of council,
The motto on the City of Barrie coat of arms reads "The People are the City."
These days, it appears that the motto is reading "The Developers are the City."
Developers are requesting and getting everything they request, even if their requests go against the Official Plan and zoning bylaws.
I refer to the application from SmartCentres regarding a development on the Barrie waterfront. People from all the wards in Barrie walk and enjoy the Barrie waterfront. Just check the parking lots on a warm, sunny summer day. People enjoy the sunshine.
Should you allow this developer to build monstrous skyscrapers of 46, 39, 36, and 25 storeys, it would block out the afternoon sunshine from the lakeshore area.
Barrie has a beautiful waterfront. This development would destroy the beauty of the waterfront, and affect every Barrie resident who uses the waterfront.
The height of the buildings in question are two or three times higher than the adjacent buildings. The maximum height bylaw, according to the planning department, is 15 storeys. Therefore, the SmartCentres' buildings do not conform to the maximum height bylaw of the city and should not be allowed.to be higher than the adjacent buildings.
The buildings as requested are too high, too dense for the property, and would increase the motor vehicle traffic greatly in the area, at a time when the increasing through traffic and commercial traffic using the lakeshore needs to be directed to Bradford Street.
I would suggest that you come and take a look at the site, and surrounding area of the lakeshore, and then compare it to the plan and pictures of the proposed development as seen in BarrieToday on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The development is overwhelming and too massive for the size of the property.
I do not think that the residents of Barrie are against development, as long as it is done in a proper way and fits in with adjacent properties. This development, as requested, is not proper and does not fit in with the adjacent properties.
Please remember the "People are the City" and listen to the voters in each of your wards and not vote to destroy Barrie's beautiful waterfront.
Thank you for your attention to this letter.
Ken Baxter
Barrie
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