Walk-up apartments on 79 Gowan St. may yet be built closer to the road with parking around back, instead of at the rear of the property, with parking and some landscaping out front.
City council gave final approval to a motion Monday night to rezone 79 Gowan, near the Allandale Waterfront GO Station, to permit a seven-unit, four-storey residential building at either location there.
But the motion also requests GO train operator Metrolinx to permit a reduced setback at 79 Gowan, relief from its 30-metre safety right-of-way, to allow for the proposed development to be built with a front-yard setback generally consistent with the other buildings on Gowan.
“There’s great interest in having this development in Allandale,” said Coun. Jim Harris, who represents this part of Barrie. “There’s been very little development over there over the years, surprisingly given its transit hub and location so favourable.”
GO’s safety right-of-way stretches 10 metres into 79 Gowan and makes a building out front difficult. Yet that’s what the Allandale Neighbourhood Association wants.
“A paved parking lot in the front does not represent an acceptable or consistent streetscape on Gowan,” said Barbara Mackie, its co-chair, who made a deputation to council Monday night. “We would be happy to see 79 Gowan St., developed with a building set close to the street in conformity with existing structures and good urban planning.
“Avoid creating a paved parking lot streetscape along our Allandale Waterfront GO Station and erecting buildings in the backyards of existing residents,” she said, noting it could also set a precedent.
Some councillors said the safety right-of-way was simply not necessary.
“Metrolinx doesn’t want new development in this sort of buffer zone,” Mayor Jeff Lehman said of the 30 metres. “And if we were out in the middle of the country, where trains were doing 100 kilometres an hour, I would understand it. But this is opposite a station, so the chance of a fast-moving train leaving the tracks opposite Gowan Street is nil.”
“My experience with the 30-metre setback with GO is that it’s not based on any science whatsoever,” Coun. Clare Riepma said. “It’s just 100 feet converted to metric and pulled out of the air.”
The rezoning includes site-specific provisions for a minimum and maximum front-yard setbacks, reduced setback to the Metrolinx rail-line right-of-way, increased density and gross floor area, increased lot coverage for front-yard parking, and a reduction in the width of a landscape strip along the west side of the proposed parking area.
The 30-metre setback is a rail safety requirement applied across the province and reflected as a provision in Barrie’s zoning bylaw. Metrolinx is the approval authority for any reductions to the 30-metre setback.
The setback limits the ability to build along the street frontage with parking in the rear. So the developer has proposed a four-metre landscape buffer along the property’s front to accommodate increased planting and decorative fencing, as a means of screening the parking area and improving the streetscape along Gowan.
City planning staff and the applicant, Mario Lampert Holding Ltd., have had numerous discussions with Metrolinx about reducing the 30-metre setback. Metrolinx staff have confirmed they may consider a reduction in the setback, which could require the provision of a safety barrier along the frontage of the property.
It is a 2.2-acre vacant property located on the south side of Gowan Street, between Bayview Drive and William Street.
The Allandale Neighbourhood Association is a non-profit community association representing the interests of the Allandale area. Established in 2008 following from the Historic Neighbourhoods Strategy, it was formalized in June 2011 through a constitution and the election of the first executive committee.
The Allandale area is enclosed by Lakeshore Drive from Minet's Point Road to Tiffin Street, Tiffin to Highway 400, the 400 to Little Avenue, Little to Huronia Road, Huronia to Minet's Point Road, and Minet's to Lakeshore Drive.
