The waiting game at Barrie’s Allandale station land continues.
The provincially ordered archaeological assessment and burial site investigation has been on-going since 2017 on these nine-acres, which include Allandale Waterfront GO Station, the restored Allandale train station and city property once slated for redevelopment.
“Residents I speak to are both curious to understand why the archaeological work has taken six years and respectful of the importance of the investigation,” said Coun. Jim Harris, who represents this part of Barrie. “I have been advised due to the site having been disturbed several times over the last 100-plus years, the investigation is much more complex than many others in the province.”
This year’s archaeological assessment and burial site investigation strategy involves the mechanical excavation and screening of the remaining soil within the site limits that retain the possibility of containing ancestral human remains.
The 2023 field strategy is designed to expedite recovering ancestral human remains from the property, while allowing the city to backfill cleared areas to grade.
This strategy continues from the 2022 field season and is based on discussions between city archaeologist AECOM, representatives of the Williams Treaties First Nation communities and the Huron-Wendat Nation, the City of Barrie and the Registrar of Burial Sites for the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, in 2021 and 2022.
“It is important to ensure the work is completed to meet the requirements of the order issued by the province to thoroughly investigate the longstanding historical significance of the Allandale station site,” Harris said, “and to protect, respect and properly recognize the history of the Indigenous peoples on these lands.”
Dawn McAlpine, the city’s general manager of community and corporate services, said intact human remains were found on the site in 2011 during the installation of underground services. The Registrar of Burials for the Province opened two burial files and issued orders for burial site investigation of the lands in 2017.
Since then, the investigation works have been undertaken by AECOM in partnership with the Williams Treaties First Nation communities and the Huron-Wendat Nation, McAlpine said.
“They have discovered the presence of intact archaeological features and fragmented human remains,” she said, noting the mechanical excavation and screening. “This approach recognizes that the fragments of remains are less concentrated further away from the station building itself.”
Don’t hold your breath on any redevelopment happening there anytime soon, however.
“I am not aware of any recent expressions of interest in the Allandale station lands from the development perspective,” Harris said. “At this point I have not received any indication of when the archaeological work will be completed.”
“The area exhibits a complex archaeological history and has been disturbed on more than one occasion,” McAlpine said. “Upon completion of the (latest) excavations, the determination of the affiliation of any remains recovered from the site will be made by the Archaeologist of Record in accordance with provincial regulations. The province’s Registrar of Burials will identify the next steps in any further processes.”
This land is designated community hub in Barrie’s Official Plan.
It is zoned central area commercial, or C1-1(SP 366), which permits only the following uses in the area south of the building - retail store, restaurant, bank, hotel or hotel building associated with a mixed-use residential, with a minimum gross floor area of 50 per cent for hotel use, offices, private/public art gallery, assembly hall, library, city hall, cultural facility, museum, police station, personal service store, recreational establishment, service store, photo hut, passenger rail station and parking lot associated with a rail/transfer station.
The area in front of the building does not allow for any development except landscaped open space including open air courtyards, plazas or patios for any restaurant within the historical train station building.
Redevelopment of this site has also been delayed by a number of legal actions.
In April of 2022, the City of Barrie and its individual agents were awarded more than $1 million in total costs from Correct Group Inc. (CGI) by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice relating to decade-long legal action linked to the Allandale station land.
This came after the city won a Superior Court of Justice summary judgment the previous January, which dismissed all claims by CGI against the city and its agents, for millions of dollars, beginning late 2011, including breach of contract and bad-faith bargaining relating to a failed 2009 development and purchase deal on this property.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General says a summary judgment provides a mechanism in cases where there is "no genuine issue for trial" for all or part of a claim to be disposed of in a summary manner, without a full trial.
CGI said at the time that its lawyers had already filed and served a notice of appeal of the summary judgment and the costs were only payable if the appeal failed.
City staff said Wednesday the courts have not dealt with the CGI appeal, and to the city’s knowledge CGI has not secured a court date.
CGI entered into an agreement with the city in 2009 to develop the Allandale station site, along with the YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka. The ‘Y’ pulled out in 2010, citing high financial risks.
