When one door opens, another door closes.
With much fanfare last week, Mayor Alex Nuttall announced Lakehead University was coming to downtown Barrie, specifically taking over the main floor of the current transit terminal on Maple Avenue when that facility moves to a site adjacent to the Allandale GO station late next year.
The Lakehead deal has to be approved by city council, but that is a given.
Lakehead will use the space for what is being called a STEM Hub campus, with a target opening of September 2026. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but it has become a catch-all phrase used to describe an education path that equips young people with problem-solving skills for careers in our increasingly high-tech world.
Barrie has been trying, without success, to attract a university campus for decades. The city’s best shot came a few years ago when the provincial government all but promised Barrie would be at the front of the line for a new post-secondary institution.
Unfortunately, Georgian College and Laurentian University couldn’t agree on a plan and submitted separate proposals. Perhaps unwilling to pick a side, the province took a pass on both, which, considering Laurentian’s later financial problems, might have been a blessing in disguise.
This new plan would see Lakehead phasing in graduate and post-graduate degrees across the fields of engineering and computer science.
It’s great news for Barrie, which is one of the few Ontario municipalities of more than 100,000 people with no university campus.
The number of Barrie residents without university degrees is well below the provincial and Canadian average, as is the percentage of those between 18 and 24 years old attending a post-secondary institution.
Undoubtedly, there are Barrie youths who don’t pursue a university career because they can’t afford the high cost of living away from home.
If the city wants to attract the jobs of the future, we need an educated workforce. So, from an economic standpoint, the STEM Hub campus will pay big dividends.
The announcement is also great news for Barrie’s downtown. Lakehead says there will eventually be 700 students studying at the new campus. No staff estimates are given, but it’s safe to say there would likely be about 100 professors and support staff.
Along with an estimated 600 Georgian College students moving into the building across from city hall over the next few years, this will inject new life into the downtown, especially during the day. Those students and staff will frequent restaurants and coffee shops and perhaps buy from shops in the area.
Just seeing all the students around will provide a boost in morale.
This all comes with a substantial price tag. A report prepared for Barrie city council makes it clear local taxpayers will be on the hook for much of the bill.
City hall is getting into the post-secondary education business in a big way.
The city will pay for the renovation of the transit terminal and the addition of modular buildings for the site, estimated to cost about $6.5 million. There is a “one-time commitment of $1,000,000 in capital contribution to Lakehead University to support the start-up costs.”
The city will also pay what's called “ongoing stability for Lakehead University over the startup operations,” amounting to cash contributions totally $2.4 million over the first four years.
Lakehead will pay a “basic rent” of $1 per year. No property taxes would be collected. The city would also pay the cost of utilities.
Where will the city find this money? Staff recommends funding be taken from what had been in the capital budget for the permanent market.
That was the plan hatched by the last council to turn the current transit terminal into a market area, similar to the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto or the ByWard Market in Ottawa, featuring vendors selling food and artisans selling crafts. It would be a gathering spot for locals and a draw for tourists.
I chaired the task force that looked into the idea and presented the report, which was enthusiastically approved by the previous council.
That enthusiasm went well beyond city hall. At a time when efforts at public engagement often bring a few hundred responses, at best, the request for public comments on a permanent market drew more than 2,000 responses, almost all of them favourable. Many of the respondents took the time to write suggestions.
It would appear the door to this idea has now closed. There is really no other suitable publicly owned site downtown for a market and, even if there were, there is no money.
The staff report on the STEM Hub campus makes it clear funds in the city’s “reinvestment reserve” are now over-committed.
Personally, I’m sad to see the end of the market dream, but I’m excited about the university campus.
My only big concern is that taxpayers are putting a lot of money into the downtown campus and Lakehead is making just a five-year commitment.
After that, suggests the staff report, “the need for a more permanent solution would be required” as the “longer-term vision includes establishing a more permanent STEM Hub location in another space.”
But if the dream of thousands of Barrie residents for a permanent market is going to die, I guess a long-sought university campus in the downtown would be a worthy adversary to deliver the death blow.
As long as it sticks around.
