City council has grounded a temporary-use bylaw for farming at a south-Barrie field.
SmartCentres REIT, on behalf of Barrie-Bryne Developments, applied for a three-year bylaw extension at 15 Harvie Rd., but councillors voted against the measure Wednesday night, in part because agricultural land is taxed at a lower rate on these 82 acres.
Coun. Gary Harvey, who represents this part of Barrie, noted a similar bylaw request was rejected by council several months ago.
“When you consider we already had a discussion around this three months ago, nothing has really changed since three months ago when the matter got deferred,” he said. “Beyond that, I have had discussions with SmartCentres ahead on today so they knew where I stood on it and most of the members of council stood on it.
“I’m not quite sure why they felt reapplying in a three-month period that the decisions around this table are going to change," Harvey added.
Mark Resnick, vice-president of development with SmartCentres, said it agreed with and supported the staff recommendation to approve the temporary-use bylaw.
“We did not see this as a disincentive to development,” he said during a short deputation to council. “Farming reduces nuisance and dumping on the property, while supporting a local farmer. This is a productive interim use for the property.”
Active agricultural use on this land could qualify for the farmland tax rate, if the farmland tax class is approved on the property by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).
Property taxes on this land are $8,250 this year, when it’s zoned agricultural.
Since the bylaw extension wasn’t granted, the land will be reassessed by MPAC, zoned for light industrial, general commercial and environmental protection.
City staff have estimated taxes ranging anywhere from $50,000 to $175,000-plus with this zoning.
“Yes, this (farming use) would additionally facilitate a reduced tax rate,” Resnick said. “We would again remind council … the lands are vacant, with no current tenants or buildings, the property is not a significant drain or impact on city services, hard services such as sewer and water, nor soft services like hospitals and libraries.
“We are all operating in the same market conditions and we all want to see this property be developed as quickly as possible," he added.
Harvey has said this land was rezoned last June and is divided by Bryne Drive. Its east side is to have commercial use, while the west side would have residential with 155 semi-detached homes, townhouses and two apartment blocks.
Michelle Banfield, the city’s executive director of development services, said a draft plan of subdivision there is also approved, but not a site plan, and the intention was always for agricultural use to be interim.
Mayor Alex Nuttall has noted the nearby Harvie Road crossing carried a $76-million price tag and the Bryne Drive extension $20 million, although SmartCentres gave the city land for the roadway.
This property is located on the west side of Highway 400, south of Harvie Road and east of Thrushwood Drive. The property is divided by the Bryne Drive South extension, which is currently under construction.
Agricultural use was to cease on all or part of this land at any time before the expiry of a temporary use bylaw, if development proceeds on all or any portion of the property.
Agricultural activities would have been limited to field crops, in an open field, a 30-metre naturalized buffer provided around Lover’s Creek and Whiskey Creek, access to the site for farming restricted to the entrance at Harvie Road, as well as best management practices applied for the use of fertilizer and pesticides. Activities related to the Bryne Drive extension taking precedence over the permission for agriculture use on that portion of the land identified for the construction of the roadway.
The request to extend the timeline for the temporary-use bylaw at 15 Harvie was not ratified by council before it expired Oct. 5, 2023, so its owner submitted a new one.
Agricultural use of the property was initiated in 2014 as interim, with a temporary use bylaw, pending the future development of the land, to prevent the property from being fallow and to reduce trespassing.
