Barrie’s planning future was on display this week.
A public meeting was held June 2 on the draft new Official Plan (OP), a long-range planning document that sets out a strategy and vision for how the city’s land will be used and developed.
‘One City, One Vision, One Plan’ establishes the structure to manage how and where Barrie will grow until the year 2051.
“The Official Plan is one of the most important documents that guides development and land use and many more aspects of life in the city of Barrie,” said Mayor Jeff Lehman. “It’s a long-range vision, a strategy for how land will be used within the municipality. It will guide our growth and development for decades yet to come.
“It really is both an application of provincial and municipal planning policies, and really a statement about the future that we want for our community,” he added.
“It’s a road map to our future. The plan provides the direction for Barrie’s growth for the next 20-plus years. The plan responds to our community’s land use, development and conservation goals,” said Michelle Banfield, the city’s director of development services and chief architect of the new OP. “We want to plan for responsible growth, with community input.”
During the public meeting, councillors heard from city residents, planning consultants representing landowners and developers, advocates for affordable housing and concerned citizens.
Jennifer van Gennip, of the Barrie Chapter of Simcoe County’s Alliance to End Homelessness, asked for more affordable housing in the OP.
“You need to ask yourselves, ‘Who is our city for?’,” she said. “This OP should reflect the best interests of Barrie’s residents. Ensuring an adequate supply of housing that people across the income spectrum can afford should be the bedrock of any plan for a resilient community.”
Cathy Colebatch, who lives in the historic Allandale area, voiced concerns with medium-density development there, as high as 12 storeys, along with accessory buildings for affordable housing.
Al McNair, an east-end Barrie resident and planner by profession, reminded councillors of the broad scope a new OP will have.
“I think we need to remember that we’re planning for a city that works for people and their neighbourhoods, at a human scale and that includes natural heritage areas, not just the roads,” he said.
Arnie Ivsins, who has lived on Albert Street for almost 35 years, is concerned about future density in the area.
“It’s important to maintain our neighbourhoods,” he said, “and about things fitting in where they should be. I feel for the people who live on Wood Street that have to look at these huge, massive houses that are being built in this area.
“These things kind of need to happen with our Official Plan, where we protect our neighbourhoods, especially our older ones.”
The new OP will also assess land needs for people and job growth.
This year Barrie’s population is 155,636 people and there are 83,400 jobs. By 2051, the OP is planning for a population that will have reached 298,000 people, and 150,000 jobs.
Half of Barrie’s future growth is to take place within the city’s current built-up area, the other half in the former Innisfil land, the Salem and Hewitt’s second plan areas.
The process of drafting a new OP has also included extensive public discussion.
The city heard back that about the need to protect and enhance what Barrie already has – from the waterfront to jobs to existing neighbourhoods, that there need to be more green spaces, more transportation options, more housing options, new developments and tall buildings in the right areas and that urban design is important – it has to look good.
Also, enhancing cultural heritage and adding more public art and spaces, along with walkability and active transportation, a focus on parking, but promoting public transit.
Banfield did stress that the new OP plans for the future.
“Nothing in this Official Plan is intended to impact any existing approvals or projects that are going through the approvals process,” she said. “Certainly, shovels in the ground are not going to be impacted by the new Official Plan.”
City staff are planning a return to council in the fall of 2021 to seek approval and adoption of the new OP.
For more information, visit buildingbarrie.ca/officialplan
