Eight storeys of condos, plus townhouses and commercial uses, are the latest plans for 405 Essa Rd., in south-end Barrie.
A public meeting is scheduled for Dec. 14 for a rezoning application on this 0.67-acre vacant property, located north of the Ferndale Drive South and Veterans Drive intersection.
It would allow the development of an eight-storey condominium with 89 residences, six three-storey townhouses and ground-floor commercial — for a total of 95 units.
Wayne Doucette, who has lived on nearby Cityview Circle for almost 30 years, says this type of development is a citywide problem.
“Developers are taking advantage of the need for housing in Barrie with little or no regard to the community around it,” he said. “Barrie has too many intensification projects underway or in the planning stages.
“This is a grotesque attempt to use intensification as a reason to leave a grotesque footprint in a stable neighbourhood," Doucette added.
Developer Sean Mason Homes has a different perspective.
“The city is undergoing a change. It’s been a long time in coming, it’s been a long time in implementation,” said Sean Mason. “People who have been there prior to that have their own views on how a city should be operated.
“There’s a lot of opposition, too, and it adds time to any approval process. They (the neighbours) do have the ability to appeal any decision so they do have quite a say," Mason said. "If you can add three or four years to a timeline process…”
This is Sean Mason Homes’ third development proposal on the books there this year.
In March, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (formerly the Ontario Municipal Board) approved a proposal for 16 townhouses at 405 Essa Rd.
Despite this approval, Mason came back with a proposal for an eight-storey residential condominium of 103 units, along with six three-storey townhouses and six two-storey mixed-use units, for a total of 115.
Mason says this project went from 16 townhouses to 115 units after city staff reminded him this was an intensification corridor and this is where residential density should be located.
But plans changed after the June 22 neighbourhood meeting, with scaled-back density.
“As you work through the process, clearly plans evolve and you’re continually trying to do a better job,” Mason said. “There were some changes on the ground floor, where previously we had proposed a live/work, which would have been a commercial open unit on the ground floor with a living space above.
“I thought it was a good idea, like an artist studio or something like that, and that has been viewed differently by the city so we just changed that to commercial,” he added.
Doucette says he also has concerns about not enough parking in the proposed development, the traffic it will create in an already busy area, and the loss of privacy through inadequate buffering for neighbours.
“We will have these units peering into our backyards and windows for perpetuity,” he said.
It has also caused Doucette to question the development process in Barrie.
“There is little or no discussion in the planning justification report about how this development keeps and improves the character of the existing neighbourhood by way of design elements,” he said, also mentioning building orientation, placement, materials, site servicing, and access.
“We are losing faith in this process of development, in that it means that although we have invested in our homes and followed the rules, we are now, for five years, having to deal with this development,” Doucette said. “It is an unfair and unreasonable change imposed on us… with little regard from the developer for our valid concerns.”
Mason noted the affordable housing component at 405 Essa Rd., will be more than the city’s 10 per cent goal.
“I would say that I think this is a pretty forward-looking building,” he said. “It’s got an interesting streetscape, we’ve got commercial going out to the main road. We have the affordable housing component. It’s going to be approximately 20 per cent better energy efficiency than code. I certainly am looking at some green roof components, some innovative parking.”
In June 2018, city council rezoned this property to multiple residential use from agricultural. This land is within the Essa Road secondary intensification corridor and is adjacent to a mature residential development which has existed for more than 25 years.
This rezoning application seeks to amend the existing zoning to mixed-use corridor with special provisions.
The Dec. 14 virtual public meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in planning committee.
