The County of Simcoe has opted against building affordable housing atop Orillia’s planned new transit terminal, located at 66 Peter St. S., after city council authorized donating the ‘air rights’ to the property for housing last year.
The idea was to facilitate an eight-storey building that would ultimately house the new transit terminal, and 50-100 affordable housing units; it was the city's response to a call for proposals the county issued in 2023 requesting municipal partnerships on affordable housing projects.
Despite the city’s submission, the county ultimately decided against using the 1.86 acre Peter Street property for affordable housing, with plans to instead focus on bringing another 100 affordable units to the 250 West St. N. site in 2033, and 60 units to 246 Oxford St. at a yet-to-be-determined date.
The county has made significant investment in Orillia including both the $80M, 130-unit affordable housing building and hub as well as the rapid rehousing site, Brad Spiewak, the county’s director of social housing, told OrilliaMatters.
“Although the proposed bus terminal is also a great location, the county has other owned sites in the city for future expansion. This also allows more flexibility for the city and its design as it develops its transit hub.”
Spiewak said the West Street site, which already houses the new, 130-unit affordable housing development, “has a significant amount of vacant lands available for future development.” He also said the property will provide “operational benefits and co-location of services” due to the existing housing hub already on site.
Despite the Oxford Street site being located beyond the city’s core, a recent memo to city council noted the property is county-owned, with Spiewak saying development on the property is not planned in the next 10 years.
“There is no timeline for Oxford Street as this is a future Phase II option. As progress is made through Phase I, more timing and detail will be brought forward for the Phase II projects,” he said.
“As the Phase II projects are much further out in the proposed timeline (i.e. greater than 10 years), it is important to understand other projects may also come forward presenting excellent opportunities.”
The news came as a disappointment to Cam Davidson, chair of the city’s affordable housing committee, who noted affordable housing atop transit hubs are projects that have been built in other Canadian cities.
Davidson said the proposed project would have been convenient to its residents, as they would have been located at a transit terminal in the city’s core.
“The big advantage is everything is right there,” Davidson told OrilliaMatters. He noted "67 per cent of Orillia is going to be over 65 by 2030, so the people that are going to live in that building are people that likely will have downsized from a house or or they're getting to the age where they may not be able to drive, or they're getting to the age where they can't walk too far, or all kinds of things.”
Given the committee’s support of the project, as well as city council’s, Davidson said he is frustrated with what he perceives as a lack of communication holding up affordable housing developments.
“I'm frustrated because a lot of things could be done if there's a little bit more cooperation and communication,” he said. “The big thing is, if we talk about it and communicate about it, no matter how small or how big it is, our chances of success go up.”
Despite the county’s decision, Davidson said he is still interested in the idea.
“I would love to sit down with some people and look at it again, because I think it’s more than feasible. It's more than workable,” he said.
