Coun. Mike McCann isn’t finished finding a new future for Barrie Jail.
City council confirmed the defeat of his motion Monday night to have staff investigate the feasibility of purchasing the shuttered Barrie Jail, for the purposes of preservation and affordable housing, with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and/or Infrastructure Ontario, the province’s property manager, and report back.
“It’s an opportunity that the rest of council just didn’t think was a good idea or wrong timing. I will be bringing this up again in the future,” McCann said. “Council misunderstood and thought the vision was housing for the homeless, where my vision was for affordable housing for the working class and retired.”
Because his motion lost, it cannot be back on the agenda for six months or through a vote by councillors, which is unlikely since McCann was the only one to support his motion.
McCann had said he would ask the province to sell Barrie Jail to the city for $10. The Ward 10 councillor says he would pay for it out of his own pocket.
“My motion was to ask staff to investigate the possibility of the province giving the Barrie Jail to the city for a nominal cost on the basis that we would be repurposing and preserving,” he said. “The meaning of housing affordability has a wide scope and this council has spent a lot of time discussing and focusing on the homeless.
“Important, but not my strategy for the Barrie Jail," McCann added.
McCann noted the local jail played an important role in Barrie becoming a city, and that many communities have preserved and repurposed their historical buildings into attractions and money-makers for their municipalities.
“My vision is to have a museum and restaurant for Barrie residents and to attract tourists,” he said. “Affordable housing is also still an idea worth pursuing. Also, a resident suggested a boutique hotel. How cool would that be?”
McCann said his motion was merely for investigation.
“The motion was just to ask. I wanted to know what our residents’ ideas were also,” he said. “I really want this to be a redevelopment project in the future.”
Barrie’s housing affordability task force has recommended city council take a number of measures to increase affordable housing in the city. This includes allowing housing as a right on large, well-located commercially zoned properties, eliminating parking standards entirely for affordable, rental, supportive and social housing, offering public land to non-profit and charitable housing providers and builders.
The task force has also recommended looking at tiny homes, pursuing hotel/motel conversions to create supportive housing communities, have one city planner dedicated to oversee and ensure the delivery of Barrie’s affordable housing strategy and taking $5 million from the city’s community benefit reserve for a new supportive housing capital fund.
Infrastructure Ontario (IO) manages the former Barrie Jail, which is a Provincial Heritage Property of Provincial Significance, on behalf of the provincial government. The former jail facility is surplus, but remains in use for ministry programs.
“IO complies with the Ontario Heritage Act on such properties and takes direction from the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries,” said IO spokesperson Alanna Myles. “The exterior area around the jail has been converted into a secure parking lot, which is currently being used by the Ministry of the Attorney General to support the adjacent court operations.
“The Barrie Jail is not currently being made available for filming/photos or tours,” she added. “Access is limited to maintenance personnel only, who are required to wear the proper protective equipment when entering the building.”
The Barrie Jail opened in 1841 and closed in 2001. The Barrie Historical Archive says it was not just criminals that ended up in the Barrie Jail. In the late 1800s, it was a catch-all for law-breakers, the homeless, elderly, mentally ill, heavy drinkers, and the disabled when there was nowhere else to place them.
