Councillors hope some changes to city-owned properties — namely the old fire-hall site on Vespra Street — could clear the way for an affordable housing project in Barrie.
In May 2019, council declared the land at 65 Vespra St., as well as 70 and 72 Victoria St., as surplus for the creation of affordable housing, which is one of the city's strategic priorities.
The properties could be merged into one to make way for a larger development.
To make the old fire-hall site more workable, the city is also looking at possibly making changes to local roads in the area, most notably closing the section of Vespra Street between Sanford and Innisfil streets, which Mayor Jeff Lehman referred to as being like "a roller-coaster."
During Monday night's general committee meeting, councillors unanimously supported the overall vision for the properties, which are located not far from Milligan's Pond, where homeless people were evicted last week, as well as the downtown.
Coun. Robert Thomson said he would like to see a project there that not only provides more affordable housing options, but also includes housing for seniors.
"I think that's what we have to look at as a healthy community; not just one type (of housing), but multiple types," Thomson said.
Coun. Sergio Morales said he liked Thomson's idea, but also added the city needs to have "a willing buyer" to finance a project that could fall anywhere between $5 million and $70 million, depending on the density of the future development.
With sites like this where low-income and market-based rents could both be included, "it's not an easy project," Morales added. "They might not be willing to take the risk with that kind of mixed use."
Morales said he wanted there to be a level of caution with the site, where environmental concerns have also identified.
"In a perfect world, we get something that has a little mixed use," he said. "I think it would have better integration into the neighbourhood, it would be better for the residents living there, it would be better for everybody. It's just smart urban planning."
"This could be the least of our worries on this property, because we know there are significant environmental concerns on the site," Coun. Keenan Aylwin said. "I just want to temper expectations here to make sure that the site can be cleaned up at an appropriate expense."
Environmental studies were done on the site to determine its development potential, at a cost not exceeding $100,000 and funded from council's strategic priorities account.
Studies found some remediation on the properties will be necessary prior to redevelopment. For example, the existing soil condition is not ideal for supporting heavy loads, according to a city staff report, which also notes the ground water depth is between 1.3 and 3.4 metres below the surface.
"These conditions can be addressed by dewatering and removing the existing soil and replacing it with engineered fill," says the report, which also notes the costs for such work is estimated at under $500,000.
One of the next steps would include city staff reaching out to housing providers — such as, but not exclusive to, the County of Simcoe — to get their take on the site and what the city is looking to do there.
It was noted that the county is the service manager in the city for social-housing programs and is responsible for planning, funding and managing it.
Director of legal services Ingrid Peters said the city would want to "cast a very broad net" that includes not only the county, but also private-sector developers.
"I am super happy to hear Ms. Peters say the county is going to be the first door that they knock on, because we're paying them ($6.5 million) a year and I'm not quite sure over the last decade that we've gotten bang for our buck," said Coun. Gary Harvey.
"We've seen some significant projects in all of our bordering municipalities and I think, in the log run, we've actually been funding some of that from our city," Harvey added.
The matter will come back to council before those steps are taken.
The site served as Barrie fire department headquarters, facing onto Vespra Street, from 1965 until 2011. The building, which also included city police headquarters until the early 1990s, was demolished in 2013.
