Trolley shuttle service could one day link, by rail, a huge residential development and a new transit hub in Barrie.
As part of plans to redevelop the old fairgrounds property near Essa Road and Highway 400, city council could direct staff Wednesday night to investigate the use of the rail spur extending from the future Allandale transit hub, now being built at Essa and Tiffin Street, to the fairgrounds for use by Barrie Transit as public transportation.
“Existing rail should always be leveraged to highest use,” Coun. Sergio Morales told BarrieToday. “That likely is some form of rail-based trolley shuttle between the fairgrounds site and the future Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal, which would enhance connectivity to Metrolinx GO train service and alleviate future traffic concerns on Essa Road."
This rail-spur motion could be part of council’s approval to ask the province to consider accelerating the rezoning of Barrie’s old fairgrounds for a proposed development in excess of 4,000 new residences, in more than a dozen towers plus townhouses.
The trolley shuttle rail service, if realized, could help move people living at a number of residential developments in various stages of approval, which Mayor Alex Nuttall has called “very large villages.”
At 17 and 27 Jacobs Terrace near Tiffin and Innisfil streets, for example, an apartment building of two towers with 19 and 23 storeys and a four-storey podium with 504 residences is proposed. It’s rezoned and awaits a site-plan application at this location, near the rail line, south of Tiffin and east of Anne Street South.
At 41 and 43 Essa Rd., 259 and 273 Innisfil St. is the proposed development of four buildings with five- to six-storey podiums and towers of 39, 26 and two of 23 storeys for 1,259 residences and some ground-floor commercial use.
And at 272 Innisfil St., the plan is for a 17-storey apartment building with 333 residences. It’s rezoned for this use, with the site-plan process underway.
“That’s what the motion intends to find out: how we can best use this rail spur for the community,” Morales said. “We'll have to wait for the investigation to see the feasibility of the idea and the best implementation strategy.”
The Ward 9 councillor also said this spur is part of the Barrie-Collingwood Railway (BCRY) line.
“Which means one of the things the (city staff) investigation would have to look into its existing weight capacity,” Morales said, “as it’s my understanding that weight capacities for ‘human’ traffic versus goods differ.”
BCRY is a short-line railway purchased from Canadian National (CN) Rail in the 1990s by the Town of Collingwood and the City of Barrie. In 2017, Simcoe County purchased Collingwood's portion.
The city owns, operates and maintains 35 kilometres of active rail in Barrie, Innisfil and Essa Township. Barrie also shares 50/50 ownership of the Utopia rail yard with the county, spanning approximately 10 acres.
Proposed on the old fairgrounds is the development of 4,054 residential units — highrises, mixed-use highrises and townhouses, along with commercial uses and a school block. This breaks down to 13 residential towers of 15 to 40 storeys, 113 townhouses and 98 three-storey townhouses.
It awaits city council approval, as early as Wednesday, of a community infrastructure and housing accelerator (CIHA) application to the province for these 55.3 acres.
The CIHA gives Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing the power to make orders to respond to municipal requests to speed approvals of rezoning, in this case from highway industrial to residential and open space.
Construction has started on the new Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal at 20 Essa Rd. This facility, along with a new downtown mini-hub, will eventually replace the current downtown bus terminal on Maple Avenue.
The city has said Barrie Allandale Transit Terminal will provide "seamless travel connections" between GO trains/buses and Ontario Northland for integrated transit access to Simcoe County, Muskoka and the Greater Toronto Area.
