The city is set to lease three acres of land to the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka’s for its new community hub in Barrie.
Councillors gave initial approval to a motion Wednesday night to declare surplus three acres of city land at Mapleview and Bayview drives to negotiate a land lease with a local branch of a national charity, the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka.
The motion passed in public after a closed-door session of general committee, where property matters are normally discussed by councillors.
City staff will report back to Barrie councillors with respect to the status of the negotiations and/or with an agreement to formalize the land-lease arrangement.
City council will consider final approval of this motion at its Jan. 18 meeting.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall could not be reached for comment Thursday evening about this motion, but his staff responded.
“This motion is regarding a confidential item, therefore the mayor won’t be commenting until this matter is deemed public information,” said Natasha Halikas, Nuttall’s community outreach officer.
Jill Tettmann, president and chief executive officer for the local YMCA, also said Thursday evening she would not be commenting.
It’s the YMCA’s third recent kick at the community hub can.
In July, the Y abandoned its plans for the two-acre H-Block property, located beside the Barrie Public Library's downtown branch, and looked instead for a minimum of three acres, said Tettmann.
The Y’s original plan was to spend $45 million on a 77,000-square-foot community hub at the H-Block, located at 50 Worsley St., although realistically the price tag was expected to be close to $60 million.
Instead, the bill was going to be approximately $79 million, which included $12 million for underground parking, plus project management, furnishings, equipment and legal fees, Tettmann said.
A three-acre site also allows parking to be above-ground, cutting costs by $12 million.
The new YMCA facility at the H-Block was to include licensed child-care spaces, a youth centre with transitional housing and outreach support, a rehabilitation space for cardiac and cancer post-care patients, and recreation areas for fitness programs.
Its financing would have come from a variety of sources.
In early summer 2021, the province announced $29.9-million in funding. Prior to the pandemic, in the fall of 2019, the Y launched its ‘100 Reasons Y’ fundraising campaign. There was also to be funding from the County of Simcoe.
Proceeds from selling the Y’s former Grove Street property — $4.5 million — were to go toward the new downtown facility. The Y announced in August 2020 that it was not financially viable to reopen the Grove Street facility, given its age and the pandemic’s impact on the Y.
The latest plans for 10-24 Grove St. W. show an Official Plan amendment and rezoning approved by council in October 2017. What’s proposed there is the development of three buildings of 21, 25 and 25 storeys, along with an eight-storey, mid-rise building and a five-storey parking podium for a total of 928 residential rental units. Its site plan remains under review.
A new YMCA facility had long been part of HIP Developments’ plans at 34-50 Bradford St., and a portion of 125 Dunlop St. W., for a project that now includes two towers of 30 and 26 storeys, and a five-storey podium, for a total of 630 residential units. There would be ground-floor commercial space and a parkette in the remains of the former Prince of Wales school.
HIP’s plans changed with the possible location of a supervised consumption site (SCS) right around the corner from the development site, at 11 Innisfil St. An SCS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for individuals to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff; consumption means taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting or orally.
So HIP moved its buildings to front onto Bradford Street, where the new Y facility was to be located, so there was no longer room for a new YMCA.
Now it looks like there are three acres at Mapleview and Bayview for the YMCA.
The motion passed by general committee of Barrie city council on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023:
NEGOTIATION OF POTENTIAL LAND LEASE FOR LOCAL BRANCH OF NATIONAL CHARITY - PORTION OF MAPLEVIEW DRIVE AND BAYVIEW DRIVE
1. That notwithstanding the provisions of By-law 95-104, a parcel of approximately three (3) acres of land on the site identified in confidential Appendix “A” (the “Subject Parcel”) be declared surplus by The Corporation of the City of Barrie (the “City”) for the sole purpose of negotiating a land lease with a local branch of a national charity/YMCA of Simcoe.
2. That the Chief Administrative Officer and Director of Legal Services, or their designates, be directed to negotiate with the local branch of a national charity, a potential land lease for the approximately three (3) acres of land, based on the general terms and conditions contained in confidential Appendix “B” to Staff Report CAO001-23.
3. That staff report back to General Committee with respect to the status of the negotiations and/or with an agreement to formalize the land lease arrangement. (CAO001-23)
