Opposition to a proposed Cundles Road East residential development hasn’t gone away.
Barrie city council will consider final approval tonight (April 19) of a rezoning needed to build three new apartment towers, from eight to 12 storeys, for 505 residential units on 4.8 acres of land at 303 Cundles Rd. E.
Melanie Franner, who lives on nearby Glen Oak Court, says there has been a great deal of community concern expressed about the project.
“For good reason I believe,” she said. “Unfortunately, our Ward 3 councillor, Ann-Marie Kungl, did not appear to take these concerns into consideration when she approved the project at the recent Barrie general committee meeting held on April 5.
“In fact, she expressed appreciation to the developer (Penady, North Barrie) and (city) staff for amending the original three 10-storey towers into one 12-storey, one 10-storey and one eight-storey tower,” Franner added. “As far as I am concerned, this ‘concession’ from the developer is a non-starter.”
She said the number of units to be built and number of residents to be added on such a small footprint of land remain the same.
“There was no consideration taken into account regarding the numerous concerns that have been raised about this development,” Franner said, “among them the serious traffic issues posed by the project’s proximity to a major vehicular artery, one that is centrally located to schools, hospital (Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre), (Georgian) college and Highway 400.”
But Kungl countered Franner’s comments.
“My support of this development does not mean I haven't heard, deeply appreciated and discussed resident concerns with staff and representatives for the developer,” she said. “With any development, I have to take resident input in balance with technical reports and staff recommendations made in consideration of matters of provincial interest as outlined in the Planning Act and other official growth plans.
“Development applications are where I see the strain of balancing all expressed ward resident expectations and opinions, with city-wide interests," the councillor added.
Kungl said that following the June 2021 neighbourhood meeting, she brought several questions to staff and the consultant at the Sept. 13, 2022 public meeting.
“My questions at that time were addressed and the staff report now before council gives a strong and comprehensive justification for their recommendation to approve the rezoning application,” she said. “To have declined the recommendation, a majority vote of members of general committee would be needed. All members unanimously voted in favour of approving the application on April 5, which will go to council for a final vote on April 19.”
But Franner said she questions the effectiveness of feedback to city officials, period.
“To me, the City of Barrie’s entire public consultation process has been a waste of effort. For what?” she said. “So the developer can get away with building the exact same number of units on a piece of land that needs significant bylaw amendments in order to ‘squeeze in’ all three towers.”
Penady wants to revise the site-specific provisions under the general commercial zoning with special provisions to facilitate the development at 303 Cundles Rd. E.
Under current zoning, residential building height is to be six storeys and the maximum residential unit count is to be 200 — although 120 units are already built and occupied in the form of two six-storey residential apartment buildings, known as The Junction. This new project would bring the unit count to 625 — 505 plus 120.
The site is vacant and forms part of a larger, 46.9-acre development parcel that fronts on Cundles Road East and is flanked by Highway 400.
“I believe that the city has shown its residents in no uncertain terms that intensification takes precedence over everything – be it local public opinion or an existing community interested in increased local commercial amenities,” Franner said. “No need to bike or walk here. Let’s give people more reasons to drive.
“Not only is the prospect of additional local amenities now out of reach, it is being replaced with yet another faceless concrete development towering above the existing skyline,” she said. “Let’s try to fit in as many new units as possible on the smallest footprint of land, without consideration of how it looks or how it impacts the existing community. Seems like an effective, forward-thinking ‘plan’ to me.”
But even if the rezoning is approved Wednesday night, Kungl says she’s not finished with the project.
“I continue to have significant concerns with traffic safety, as was voiced by residents regarding existing issues that may get worse with intensification on Cundles Road East,” she said. “While traffic studies didn’t warrant any changes to infrastructure on that road, I will be meeting with (the city’s) traffic services (department) and representatives from Barrie police on April 26 to discuss issue areas in Ward 3, to which this is a key one. It is my intention to explore how a red-light camera may be able to be dedicated to this area.”
