Barrie backs the MZO.
By direct motion Monday night, city council put its support behind the Town of Innisfil’s request to the province for a minister’s zoning order (MZO) to help accelerate development of Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre’s (RVH) future south campus on 83 acres at the southwest corner of Innisfil Beach Road and Yonge Street.
There was no discussion on the matter, although there was a recorded vote, which resulted in an 11-0 approval.
“Everyone is on record as in favour,” said Mayor Jeff Lehman.
The land, located south of Stroud, needs to be rezoned from agricultural use to allow the RVH south campus, or health hub, to be built there.
RVH president and CEO Janice Skot has said that following a rezoning, RVH still has a five-stage process with the Ministry of Health it needs to go through, which will take a decade.
Without an MZO, this process could take another three to five years, Skot has said, followed by the five-stage process.
Last month, RVH announced plans to expand its existing Georgian Drive hospital in Barrie, now called the north campus, during a 10-year period and develop a new south campus in Innisfil to meet local demands and ongoing population growth.
The total estimated cost of these two projects is roughly $2.5 billion, or $500 million for the south campus and $2 billion to expand RVH in Barrie.
