When it comes to a how your Barrie neighbourhood looks in the future, this truly is a case of speak now or forever hold your peace.
That’s because the city is close to approving a new comprehensive zoning bylaw, which will regulate land use in the future. Among other things, it will set out what can be built and where it can be built.
One proposed change in what is now the third draft would change the face of the type of neighbourhoods in which most residents now live, the kind made up of single family homes, duplexes and townhouses. As pointed out by a couple of local planners in correspondence to the city, four-storey apartments would be allowed as a right on any property zoned NL1, NL2 or NL3 across Barrie.
In his letter, Robert Lehman pointed out that would include about 40,000 properties and almost every residential street in the city. He says he hasn’t found anything like it in any other municipality in Ontario.
“I would support the development of any form of housing if the location was appropriate,” wrote Lehman. “However, I don’t believe that every residential area of the city is the right place for the construction of a four-storey apartment building.”
In my own Ward 4, it would be possible for developers to buy up two or three of the large lots on established streets such as Shirley, Sunnidale and Letitia and erect four-storey buildings containing 20 to 40 units.
Of equal concern, Lehman goes on to say, is that “the public will be shut out of the planning process” in the future. Because such buildings would be allowed as a right, there would be no public meetings and city council would not need to give its permission.
Another local planner, Gary Bell, agrees, stating in his letter to the city that four-storey buildings would be allowed “with no further local input to compatibility, amenity, fit, etc.” He calls for further input from “knowledgeable and affected professionals” before such a change is made.
Both Lehman and Bell suggest the proposal goes against the city’s new Official Plan, which the comprehensive zoning bylaw is supposed to support. Specifically, Lehman suggests it contravenes the part that says new development “appropriately respects the scale, height, massing, lot pattern, building type, orientation, character, form, and planned function of the immediate local area.”
The change is still just a proposal, but the process is in its final stages. All that remains is a public meeting and then a staff report based on the feedback and technical comments. The new bylaw is expected to come before Barrie city council in early 2025.
Except for a fluke of nature, the chance for public input into the process before staff start writing up the report would have already been passed. The public meeting had been scheduled for Oct. 1, but there was a power failure at city hall, forcing the meeting to be rescheduled. As yet, no date has been set.
I’m surprised the issue hasn’t drawn more public comment. Apart from the two planners, there was just a single written objection to the change from a citizen.
The public certainly speaks up when there is a specific proposal. For example, during the last term of council, a plan for 46 units in a four-and-a-half-storey building on Mapleview Drive West drew fierce opposition from much of the neighbourhood.
If the proposed current change to the zoning bylaw goes ahead, the developer could simply knock half a floor of the building. There would be no chance for public input and no council decision.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Certainly there is a lot of pressure from both the federal and provincial governments on municipalities to allow more housing.
But getting rid of the public comment requirement for what is a major change to a neighbourhood seems extreme. It is true council frequently approves projects over neighbourhood objections but there is often a compromise taking some of the concerns into consideration.
If nothing else, the neighbours get a chance to understand a bit more about the project.
The proposed change in Barrie would eliminate that.
