South Barrie could be getting townhouses and environmental protection (EP) land at 338 Mapleview Dr. E.
City council will consider final approval Wednesday evening to rezone, for developer Loon Avenue Lands OP, this property for 188 residential condominium townhouses, which would occupy 8.35 acres of the 28.2-acre property.
The remaining 19.8 acres of land would be designated, in Barrie’s Official Plan, as EP in the Lovers Creek Provincially Significant Wetland, and supporting features. This property would be dedicated to the city as an EP area.
“This rezoning hands EP land to the city and gets people housed,” said Coun. Sergio Morales, who represents this part of Barrie. “The proposed development addresses the housing crisis by providing infill units.
“This is a win for existing neighbours, aspiring neighbours and future generations," he added.
And the EP land is conveyed “to the city so it can be protected and preserved in public ownership,” Morales said.
The townhouses would be three storeys in height, 12 metres for the back-to-back ones and 14.5 metres for the stacked townhouses, on that portion of the land within the development limit established and agreed to by the city.
“Not only are the units a compatible built-form, but they would be built on what is otherwise a legacy lot zoned for industrial,” Morales said, “which might have made sense when the existing subdivision to the north was being built, but backup beeping and shipping tractor-trailers coming and going at all hours wouldn’t be very compatible with the existing subdivision today.”
The rezoning would be from agricultural and EP to residential multiple dwelling, second density, with special provisions-hold. They include a maximum building height of 14.5 metres, when 10 metres allowed is the standard, a maximum gross floor area of 87.5 per cent when 60 per cent is the standard and including back-to-back townhouse units permitted as a built form.
The site is located on the north side of Mapleview Drive East, east of Huronia Road and south of Loon Avenue — and immediately south of the existing residential homes fronting Loon Avenue.
