The thumbs down neighbours have given to a proposed residential development at 405 Essa Rd., in south-end Barrie, could have the same response from city council.
Councillors will vote tonight (Sept. 21) on a motion to deny a rezoning application from Sean Mason Homes for the property.
If approved, the motion would be sent to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), which has a zoning-bylaw amendment before it for a mixed-use condominium building. The current status of this case is what the OLT calls ‘pre-merit hearing’.
“We’ve just learned of this,” area resident Graeme Montgomery said Wednesday morning of councillors’ decision. “While we don’t have any details, we are happy that the City of Barrie is listening to the concerns of residents and responding to those concerns in the processes established for development in our city.
“However, given that this application is now in front of the OLT, the process has changed and so we need to be monitoring this change and be as involved as we can be given the community concerns around this application process that has taken yet again another turn," he added.
Montgomery is a member of a residents’ group that has met consistently during the past six years concerning Mason and his developments in their community. A petition opposing the rezoning circulated last December with a total of 557 signatures, both online and handwritten.
Residents have said Mason’s proposed development is not in character with other housing in the area, and have been opposed to its density and the project’s size.
Mason has said before the opposition is NIMBY, or not in my back yard.
BarrieToday could not immediately reach Mason for comment on city councillors’ rezoning denial on Wednesday.
The OLT decides land-planning matters when developers, residents and local councils cannot reach agreement. It is the former Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
Mason’s request is to rezone 405 Essa Rd., from residential multiple dwelling second density, with special provisions, hold, to mixed-use corridor with social provisions.
But what’s been proposed on this property has changed with the years.
Last December, the proposed development was an eight-storey, mixed-use condominium building with 95 residences, six townhouses and ground-floor commercial space, along with a ground-floor parking garage and an amenity area on this vacant, rectangular. 0.67-acre property on the west side of Essa Road, north of the Ferndale Drive South and Veterans Drive intersection.
In June 2018, city council rezoned this property to multiple residential use from agricultural. The land is within the Essa Road secondary intensification corridor and is adjacent to mature residential development which has existed for more than 25 years.
At one point, Mason was proposing 115 residences, which included 103 condos, six townhouses, six mixed-use (live/work) units and 15 per cent affordable housing.
The land is designated for residential use in Barrie’s Official Plan.
Council’s general committee denied Mason’s rezoning application at its Sept. 12 meeting. That denial is on council’s agenda tonight.
Coun. Natalie Harris, who represents this part of Barrie, declined comment Wednesday because this matter’s staff report is confidential.
