A chain reaction of events could relocate the proposed YMCA facility to the city’s so-called H-Block property, next to the Barrie Public Library's downtown branch, from HIP Developments’ project at the old Barrie Central Collegiate site.
Council gave final approval Monday night to hand city legal staff authority to negotiate an agreement of purchase and sale with the YMCA for 50 Worsely St., which is a little less than two acres in size. A sale price and closing date are still to be worked out.
“The H-Block has a bunch of advantages,” said Mayor Jeff Lehman. “It’s flat, square, easy to access and has much more parking on site and in the surrounding blocks. There are lots of potential synergies with the library programming next door. In addition… it’s the right size for the Y’s proposed building and some parking.
“The YMCA will bring people to its site and is a fantastic community hub," he added.
But this site is an option as much as a choice for the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka.
Earlier Monday, the province announced $29.9 million in funding for the new YMCA facility. Y officials indicated they were confident their project would go ahead somewhere on the Central Collegiate location and that discussions were continuing.
“Conversations with HIP Developments are still underway,” Jill Tettmann, the Y’s president and chief executive officer, said on Tuesday. “We are pursuing exciting downtown site locations and are thankful to the city for providing this option (at the H-Block site).”
The YMCA has been part of HIP’s development plans for the former Central Collegiate site — at 34-50 Bradford St., and a portion of 125 Dunlop St. W. — for a project of two 20-storey towers, one 10-storey residential building, a semi-public urban parkette containing the heritage facade of the former Prince of Wales school and a five-storey parking structure. In all, there would be 600 residential units on the nearly seven-acre property.
But its final site plan still requires city council’s approval and that site plan could be changing with the possible location of a supervised consumption site (SCS) right around the corner from the HIP site, at 11 Innisfil St.
“Alternatives are being explored given our need to rework our site plan resulting from ongoing discussions after the announcement of the safe consumption site location,” HIP president Scott Higgins said on Tuesday.
An SCS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for individuals to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff; consumption means taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting or orally.
Earlier this month, Higgins expressed reservations about the SCS after council endorsed its location, which still requires Ontario health ministry and Health Canada approvals.
He said that wasn’t the correct location for the SCS, that HIP had not been consulted by the city or the proponent, which is the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and the Canadian Mental Health Association's Simcoe County branch.
Higgins said HIP was not prepared to invest further until satisfactory solutions were found.
Lehman has said the city was committed to working on specific site-plan issues related to the potential SCS.
What happens now?
“It’s really up to the YMCA and the city to listen to each other’s needs and find a solution,” Higgins said Tuesday. “We remain a partner of the Y and the city, and want to see the YMCA proceed with this important project somewhere in the downtown as soon as possible.
“We remain hopeful it will be on the Barrie Central lands,” he added. “I’m confident all parties will find workable solutions. I’m also hopeful we will see a meaningful partner investment in Barrie Central as our original decision to invest over a quarter-billion (dollars) into the site for needed new rental housing was based on either a new YMCA or a new performing arts centre — hopefully both.”
Lehman says that approximately a month ago, he and city staff were notified by both HIP and the YMCA that due to HIP wishing to revise its site plan, HIP may not be able to locate the Y on the Dunlop/Bradford land. So staff investigated potential city-owned sites for the Y project, including the Central Collegiate land (former Fisher Auditorium site) and the H-Block.
“Council decided on the H-Block," the mayor said. "This gives the Y another potential option if they cannot proceed on the HIP lands. If HIP wants to renew their arrangement with the YMCA, that’s up to them and the Y.
"Myself and other members of council did not want anything to put the Y project at risk. It’s too important to our community and to the YMCA," Lehman added. "The new Y is a fantastic project that will have many benefits to our downtown.”
At 77,000 square feet, the facility is to include licensed child-care spaces, a youth centre with transitional housing and outreach support, a rehabilitation space for cardiac and cancer post-care patients, and recreation areas for fitness programs.
Lehman said a performing arts facility and events venue, eventually planned for the Fisher Auditorium site, is a tourist attraction and likely has greater economic spin-off for the west end of downtown, including the restaurant sector.
“I believe many on council continue to see the Central site as the ideal location for that type of facility, and the performing arts task force has identified it as the preferred site,” Lehman said.
He said Monday’s announcement of provincial funding for the new Y means it can go ahead — although a site still needs to be finalized.
Tettmann said the new YMCA facility will be funded by a combination of funds from the sale of its Grove Street property, the provincial funding that was announced Monday, funding from the County of Simcoe and the ‘100 Reasons Y’ campaign.
“We are hopeful that construction would begin as early as the spring of 2022 and be completed in about two and half years for a late-2024 opening,” she said.
