City-owned land that stands to become hundreds of new Barrie residences hit a bit of a bump Tuesday evening.
Public meetings were held to rezone three city parcels — 29 and 35 Sperling Dr., 50 Worsley St. and 48 Dean Ave. — prior to selling them to developers which could turn them into an estimated 1,375 new residential units.
At 48 Dean Ave., near Yonge Street and Big Bay Point Road in Ward 9, there is already Barrie Public Library’s Painswick branch, surface parking and a landscaped area. The latter 1.66 acres, on this site’s eastern half, could be rezoned for a 10-storey building with 201 units and 257 parking spaces. The library and parking area would not be affected by any future development.
But neighbours expressed concerns with the plans, which are concept only, the highest and best use as determined by a consultant.
Steve Varga, who lives on nearby Russell Hill Drive, one street back from Dean Avenue, said it’s too many people in too little space.
“We do need extra housing, we do need affordable housing. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “However, good intentions cannot excuse poor decisions. I do think having too high a density on Dean Avenue is a poor decision. Potentially, we are asking for trouble.”
Irene Lowry, who lives right on Dean Avenue, said this was never the plan for the neighbourhood.
“Our understanding was that the remaining area would be developed as green space with trees, not only to be pleasant for our walkable neighbourhood but also to address some of our changing climate issues,” she said. “Now you want to rezone … and sell it to a developer to build housing.
“Some of us are feeling very betrayed by our city.”
Varga made similar comments.
“We had heard there would be different things — there would be a parkette, there would be a church, there would be different things like that,” he said. “Those are very low-density items. They wouldn’t create a whole lot of disruption, or potential disruption, as far as traffic.”
Varga also had concerns about pedestrian safety.
“I’m having a hard time seeing how we can safely have such high density on that area, when it was previously designed strictly for a very low-density residential area,” he added.
Lowry and Varga were the only ones who spoke at Tuesday’s public meeting.
But other residents wrote to the city about their concerns.
The H-Block property, at 50 Worsley St., is 1.58 acres in Ward 2, adjacent to Barrie Public Library’s downtown branch. The city’s concept would have two 33-storey towers, a three-storey podium, 628 units and 395 parking spaces.
Tonya O’Brien works downtown, parking at the H-Block during weekdays, and says her only other choice is the Collier Street Parkade, and she doesn’t feel comfortable there.
“It doesn't make sense to me that you are asking people to park farther away when there are other properties that housing could be developed on,” she wrote. “It seems like the parking is being taken away to create more housing at the expense of people working downtown.
"I would ask that you reconsider getting rid of the H-Block parking lot," O’Brien added.
Jeff Catlin, who lives near 48 Dean Ave., is concerned about density and parking in the area.
“With the limited amount of parking for the proposed new site, we know this will result in residents parking on our streets constantly as well,” he wrote. “Over the last several years, in an already developed area of land, we are being subject to another set of buildings jammed into this area.
“By the time all is said and done, there will be approximately 600, 1,000 people now living in this cramped area.”
Farhad Khodabande lives near the Painswick library and is also opposed to the Dean Avenue development.
“The area needs more shopping centres, community centres and recreation centres, entertainment centres, skating rinks, etc. than apartments,” Khodabande said. “We live here and feel that our right is to have some commercial and entertainment areas. We go all the way to other parts of cities for shopping, restaurants, amusement parks, rec centres, etc., so why is the city trying to add more residents to this area?
“More residents need more schools, more rec centres, more shopping areas ... is the city thinking about all of these? Is there any plan for this?” Khodabande said. “All the construction we see in the city is residential apartments.”
The 29 and 35 Sperling Dr. property, Ward 3 land north of Highway 400 and east of St. Vincent Street, contains the former police headquarters and surface parking on 3.8 acres. The city’s development concept is for 11- and 12-storey buildings, with a total of 546 units and 473 parking spaces.
Coun. Ann-Marie Kungl, who represents Ward 3, stressed that these are just concept plans for the three properties and the land buyer need not build to plan.
“What you see is not necessarily what you are going to get,” she said.
The three public meetings on these rezoning applications were part of Tuesday’s affordability committee meeting.
City planning staff intend to have a report to Barrie councillors some time in March concerning the rezoning applications.
The rezoning applications now need approval from general committee and city council, before the land would be sold for development.
The sale and development of these three properties could also be a cash cow for the city, Mayor Alex Nuttall said last November.
The potential sale values of these three properties is roughly $35 million, he said, their estimated annual tax revenue to the city is $3.5 million and the development charges (DCs) created through these property sales is $36 million.
DCs are designed to recover the capital/infrastructure costs associated with residential, commercial, industrial and institutional growth within a municipality from developers, so that existing residents don’t have to foot the bill.
Nuttall has said this funding would help pay for city priorities and keep taxes affordable.
Bill 23, the province’s More Homes Built Faster Act of 2022, calls for 1.5 million new homes built in Ontario by 2031.
Barrie councillors endorsed a pledge in early 2023 with a target of 23,000 new homes built by 2031, in addition to what’s already planned.
The residential units that would be built from the rezoning and sale of the Sperling Drive, Worsley Street and Dean Avenue homes could help the city make that target.
