A proposed 11-storey development project may be on hold for now, however a local celebrity, also the former owner of a business on the property, hopes to see it go ahead.
“Getting into dairy was my resolve,” said Willard Kinzie, the first mayor of the City of Barrie and former owner of Lakeview Dairy, when he sat down this week with BarrieToday for an interview.
The former Lakeview Dairy land at 185–205 Dunlop Street East is currently under consideration for site plan approval for the development of a mixed-use 11-storey building. The building is slated to include 193 residential condominium units, with ground floor commercial and a small rooftop commercial use to be utilized as a restaurant, with underground parking.
AALTO Developments Inc. applied for site plan approval back in January and the city issued site plan conditions in June.
A decision on the conditions was expected July 25, however when reached for comment this week, senior city planner Janet Foster said the developer has asked for a deferral until further notice.
While Foster acknowledges that the site has been vacant for years due to development applications not proceeding, she’s optimistic that this one will move ahead.
“It’s up to (the developer). The city can’t force them to build, but they have invested a lot of money into the planning process,” said Foster. “To me, they’re very serious about moving forward.”
The site is likely best known around town as the long-time home to Lakeview Dairy.
Lakeview Dairy was founded by Thomas Brothers in 1884. On July 1, 1947, the business was purchased by Kinzie when he moved up to Barrie from Guelph. At that time, it served about 800 customers and saw an average output of 1,200 quarts of milk daily.
“My father and three of his brothers had a little dairy farm in Blair, Ont. (now a part of Cambridge),” said Kinzie.
“They operated out of the basement of their house and they had horses to transport the milk. When I was a young boy, the Kinzie brothers would get together... They used to tell fun stories about the dairy business, so it got ingrained in me that this was more fun than farming.”
While Kinzie sold the business in 1975, over the years he earned the nickname of ‘The Milk Man’ around town. He was the mayor of Barrie from 1957 until 1961, during which time the town changed over to an incorporated city, pushing forward development of all kinds.
“Like anything else, there’s pros and cons (to development). It seemed, at that time, you had two segments of people: ones that want to keep things the way they are, and others who want to go ahead,” said Kinzie.
Despite the new development being on the site of his former business, Kinzie is very supportive of most future development in Barrie.
“I felt it’s been very good. True, we have big cities like Toronto where the bulk of people live in high rises, and that’s happening here too,” said Kinzie.
“Nevertheless, in my opinion, it’s wise for people to spread out. In Barrie, even if you live in a high rise, there’s such a beautiful waterfront here.”
Foster indicated that the developer is expected to come back with the conditions either at the end of August or September. If the conditions are approved, the developer will then be able to apply for a building permit.
