When Innisfil town council considered rezoning a residential area near the lake for mixed-use development at a recent meeting, many residents asked: Why not focus on the vacant land on Innisfil Beach Road first?
According to the town, there are about 3.65 hectares of vacant land on Innisfil Beach Road. Some lots have signs indicating future development. A condominium development. A gym. A restaurant.
Many of the signs have been there for years.
The town’s economic development team says businesses do want to locate here.
“The demand from the market is not our challenge,” said Brennan Kenny, the town’s economic development officer. “Since the start of 2019, I've had over 100 space-related leads.”
The real issue is affordable, available built space, meaning the town couldn’t accommodate all of those leads.
Currently, the vacancy rate for Alcona office space is around zero per cent, and the retail vacancy rate about two per cent. The result is lease prices that almost compare to those in Toronto, Kenny said.
“In order to bring the prices down and to attract jobs to our community, we need more space," he said. "We need to flood that supply, because the demand is already there.”
Developing the vacant land and creating more space has been a challenge for several reasons, including land speculation, challenges to land consolidation and growing construction costs.
In a flyover video of Alcona created for the economic development team, potential developers and investors can see the town’s vision that allows up to eight-storey mixed-use developments in the downtown area. And council has enacted all of the planning conditions to support the vision, Kenny said.
“The Official Plan designation is there; zoning is already there,” he said. “We don't own any land there, so it's up to the private market to come in here and say, 'OK, is this reasonable?'”
Several projects on Innisfil Beach Road are already at varying stages of development, Kenny said.
Much has already changed in what was historically cottage country, with about 13.7 hectares of land on Innisfil Beach Road being developed over the past decade.
“It does take some time to develop,” Kenny said. “It certainly doesn't happen all at once.”
When council decided not to move forward with the rezoning of a residential stretch of Innisfil Beach Road near Lake Simcoe on Aug. 12, they did so after hearing from residents who asked them to focus elsewhere, and shared fears that the COVID-19 pandemic might hurt opportunities for commercial development.
Dan Taylor, who also works in the town's economic development office, said it's hard to predict the future, but he still feels optimistic about Innisfil’s downtown vision.
“I certainly believe that people still want to socialize, whatever that looks like moving forward, and want to be in places that are dynamic and interesting,” he said.
Shane MacDonald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Barrie Advance
