At least eight people, including one representing developer SmartCentres, will speak to city council Monday night about a contentious highrise project planned near Barrie’s waterfront.
Afterwards, council will consider final approval of a rezoning and Official Plan change needed to eventually build highrise towers between Bradford Street and Lakeshore Drive, 51-75 Bradford St. and 20 Checkley St., as high as 46, 39, 36 and 25 storeys for 1,900 residential rental units, commercial space and a hotel.
“We are in support of the development of these lands for residential, commercial, and retail purposes, but have some serious reservations about the scale and design of the project being proposed,” said Charlie Talbot, one of the speakers, also speaking for his wife, Kathryn. “This project is too large and will overwhelm the capacity of these waterfront amenities and reduce their availability to all Barrie residents.”
“I am very much opposed to the height of all four buildings proposed,” said Paul Armstrong, another speaker, “and would partially block out the sunlight of the buildings (already there).”
Gary Bell is a well-known consulting planner in the Barrie area.
“I will offer comments about the height, mass and density of the proposed development and make three specific points of non-conformity with Official Plan policy and the Urban Design Manual,” he said.
Paula Bustard, executive vice-president of development for SmartCentres, will also make a deputation to council Monday. She is scheduled to speak first, followed by Rod Burns, Cathy Colebatch, Bell, Bonnie Gill, Talbot, Leslie Hart, and Armstrong.
SmartCentres, on behalf of Barrie Lakeshore Developments (Greenwin Barrie and a numbered Ontario company), has submitted applications to develop a mixed-use project on this 8.6-acre property between Lakeshore Drive and Bradford Street. The project also includes a parking garage, open space and environmental protection land.
A rezoning and Official Plan amendment are both required for this project to go ahead.
A site-plan control application has also been submitted as Phase 1 of the development concept, which includes a 25-storey building fronting Lakeshore Drive for 152 hotel rooms and 230 residential units.
But the proposed height of these four towers had fed much of the controversy surrounding this project. Barrie’s largest towers are 16 storeys — the Nautica buildings near the waterfront — and this project.
The planning staff report justifies the SmartCentres proposed heights, however.
"While the height is significant in terms of existing development, staff do not consider the height requested by this proposal to be out of character in an urban centre, in particular how it relates the city’s goals of providing opportunity for a variety of house type and tenure, and increasing residential presence in the City Centre,” it reads in section 27.
“It is recognized that the proposed height of the tower structures is not currently represented in the City of Barrie," the report also says. "However, tall buildings are intended to be directed to this area of the city and numerous examples of this type of built form have been submitted for consideration."
A motion to get further justification for the height of the proposal and any opportunity to reduce heights to mitigate impact on surrounding neighbourhoods lost 6-5 at the Nov. 30 meeting.
Councillors have decided the site plan should be bumped up — approved by council, not just delegated to city staff, as is the usual procedure. There’s to be an overall site plan for the entire property, plus one for each development stage. All would come to council individually and require its approval.
City planning staff have said the detailed design for this project is ongoing, and that the principle of development and zoning standards are being considered for approval to this point.
At the Nov. 30 meeting, Barrie councillors asked for a memo from staff about several matters connected to this project, including a conference centre, environmental protection land, parkland (or cash-in-lieu of it), electric vehicle charging stations, a draft zoning-bylaw modification, and holding provisions on the property.
“I’m thankful for the effort that the city planning department has put into this file,” Coun. Keenan Aylwin, who represents this area of Barrie, said Friday. “I’ll be working with planning staff and fellow city councillors on some potential ways to address some residents’ concerns over the next few days.
"In the meantime, I would encourage anyone with questions or specific concerns to reach out," he added.
“The memo is helpful. I am still digesting it and will likely have other questions as time goes along,” Coun. Clare Riepma also said Friday. “I am still concerned about the height, but haven’t finished my thinking on that subject yet.”
Senior city planner Celeste Kitsemetry offered some additional information about the opportunity to locate a conference centre on the site.
“While some meeting space will be included, the overall hotel model is not inclusive of a true conference centre and is unlikely to be contemplated at this location in the future,” she said in the memo. “Some meeting space is contemplated in the (hotel) model, but is typically less than 5,000 square feet."
She said hotel-room capacity near a facility needed for a mid-size conference of 300 to 400 people isn’t being planned.
“This size of hotel is not part of this development proposal,” Kitsemetry said.
A hotel and conference centre had been included in the W.A. Fisher Auditorium and Event Centre project, on the former Barrie Central Collegiate site, which also includes a 650-seat theatre. But in June, council passed a motion that included asking for a staff report with information on a potential exit strategy from the Fisher project. This would include, but not be limited to, declaring this land surplus to the city’s needs and listing it for sale.
On Monday, councillors will consider a motion that the Fisher project be held for 12 months, or such time as recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic allows for market conditions to improve so its business case can be updated and assessed.
Last spring, council rezoned 34-50 Bradford St., and a portion of 125 Dunlop St. W., to permit the development of 600 residential units in multiple buildings, and a new YMCA community facility, on the former high school property. Its final site plan still needs council’s approval for this property located on the west side of Bradford Street, immediately southwest of Simcoe Street, and containing the former Red Storey Field.
This nearly seven-acre site would contain two 20-storey towers, one 10-storey residential building, a three-storey YMCA, a semi-public urban parkette containing the heritage facade of the former Prince of Wales school and a five-storey parking structure. This structure and surface parking is proposed to serve the entire development, providing a total of 822 parking spaces — 600 for the residential units and one space per four people using the YMCA.
