Barrie’s old fire-hall site, which has been proposed for a supportive housing project, should be seeded and planted instead, councillors will hear Monday night.
Ann-Marie Quinn, representing the Brock Park Citizens Coalition, will make a deputation to city council to express the need for a park on the property, located at Vespra and Innisfil streets.
Joyce Chun, who owns property on nearby Sanford Street, said the group submitted this proposal to the city in February and again earlier this month.
“Given the super-intensification plans for that area, some parkland will be desperately needed,” Chun said, mentioning the planned Bradford Street/Lakeshore Drive SmartCentre towers and HIP Developments at the former Barrie Central Collegiate site.
“We believe community gardens and fruit trees should be part of the park. Pickleball. Playground. Benches. Something historical,” she added. “We would ask the city to consider this use, for the benefit of many current and future residents.”
Council will be considering final approval Monday of a motion to receive a staff report that says the city should move away from the $3-million modular, supportive housing project.
Given the significant development constraints associated with the 1.49-acre site at 65 Vespra St., 70 and 72 Victoria St., the motion also says staff should consult with the County of Simcoe regarding its interest in this property during the longer term for affordable or supportive housing and report back to Barrie councillors.
Also that staff work with the county to determine sites or projects, other than on Vespra and Victoria streets, that the city could consider supporting to allow for a quicker provision of supportive housing.
Rick Pews, the city's director of corporate facilities and the staff report’s author, says there are limitations to developing this site, as conditions won’t allow for a quick build of the supportive housing that council and the community are seeking.
Staff are recommending that the county be consulted with respect to alternative projects or sites that may allow for the quicker delivery of safe, supportive housing in Barrie.
Mayor Jeff Lehman has said that given the constraints on this site, the city should look elsewhere to construct affordable or supportive housing.
And Barrie got some good affordable housing news Friday.
The federal government announced an almost $26-million insured loan to help construct a new residential building at 233-245 Dunlop St. W. MDM Developments’ project is an eight-storey residential building that will provide Barrie with 93 new units of affordable rental housing close to public transit, schools and services for families.
The project received funding through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) Rental Construction Financing initiative, a National Housing Strategy program that supports rental housing construction projects to encourage a stable supply of rental housing for middle-class families in expensive housing markets.
Pews’ staff report lists several reasons why the project should not proceed at 65 Vespra St., 70 and 72 Victoria St., which also fronts Innisfil Street.
Unsuitable soil would need to be removed within the building area and extending five metres beyond. About 4,500 metric tonnes needs to be removed, at an estimated cost of $500,000 for dewatering, removing the existing soil and replacing it with engineered fill.
There are also several other requirements that would need to be confirmed as the development proposal takes shape, as part of the normal development approval process.
They include the decommissioning of wells located on site, disposal of any excavated garbage, a site alteration permit, a fill management plan and a discharge agreement for construction dewatering and monitoring of groundwater and gas migration.
With the exception of updating the Phase 1 environmental assessment report, none of these items have been costed at this time, the report says, and they would be in addition to the $500,000 estimate for soil remediation.
All of these requirements would typically be addressed by the developer. If the city remains the landowner, it is deemed to be the developer, even if there is another entity constructing and managing the build and housing on the land.
The staff report does give councillors three possible options.
They could recommend that 65 Vespra and 70/72 Victoria be placed on the market to be sold as-is to the highest bidder, with any net revenues from the sale be used to fund the city’s affordable housing community improvement plan. Staff say it might be possible to get a higher price for the land if it is re-designated and rezoned to residential before being offered for sale.
The second option is to transfer this property to the county, at no cost, and with a maximum $3-million contribution toward the soil remediation and development of the lands for supportive housing. The county is the local service manager for social housing and in the best position to either build housing there itself or determine an appropriate service provider to do so, staff say. Given the county’s interest in developing additional affordable and supportive housing, the risk of some other form of development occurring on the site is less likely than if the land is sold to the private sector.
The third option is proceeding with neighbourhood consultation and talks with the County of Simcoe and various outreach organizations simultaneously, to establish suitable criteria for a call for proposals for a service provider to construct and manage the building of a project on city-owned lands at 65 Vespra and 70/72 Victoria streets. Staff don’t recommend this alternative.
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