The city will spend as much as $200,000 on a planning consultant to continue studying Barrie’s boundary expansion.
By direct motion Wednesday night, council voted to retain Hemson Consulting to work with the city and a provincial facilitator to build upon the initial findings of a joint land needs analysis, identifying and accurately describing land in Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships, to meet Barrie’s perceived needs.
Hemson’s work would further assess the city’s infrastructure and servicing capacity to support 930 developable hectares, or 2,297 acres.
Once this work is complete, city staff would report back to Barrie councillors about additional studies and work phases.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall said this is the right time to do this work.
“Nothing is going to happen in the (provincial) election, nothing should happen in the election, in terms of our border,” he said. “And we should take that time to get more information and start the work on phase three.”
“You’re in for a penny, you’re in for a pound,” Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson said of continuing the study.
Council passed a motion in December that, given information contained within the first two stages of the joint needs analysis and study by Hemson, the city’s experience with developable land within Barrie’s boundary and historical experience with the 2009 Innisfil boundary adjustment, the initial land-request proposals to Springwater and Oro-Medonte be reassessed to better respect and identify the city’s need for vacant land required for comprehensive community employment land and residential housing in order to meet provincial targets.
But Michael Prowse, the city’s chief administrative officer, said Barrie, Oro-Medonte and Springwater officials could not agree on what the next stage of Hemson’s work would look like.
“I had very clear marching orders from this council as to what was expected from stage three,” he said. “What land do we need, where do we need it, how do we service it.”
Barrie’s initial land-request proposal to Oro-Medonte was for 772 hectares (almost 1,908 acres) east of Penetanguishene Road, south of Gore Road, west of Line 1 South and north of the Shanty Bay rural settlement area. This land consists of active farmland and environmentally sensitive features, the township says.
Barrie has also targeted three parcels of land in Springwater for boundary expansion, totalling 1,324 hectares, or almost 3,272 acres.
Hemson has estimated Barrie has 793 hectares (1,960 acres) of vacant industrial land, although city staff say that number should be trimmed by 20 per cent because of a new definition for "employment land."
Hemson has also concluded there is a need for an additional 930 hectares (2,297 acres) of land for comprehensive community/employment area uses and residential development in Barrie, which could be addressed through a boundary adjustment.
For the city to achieve the 2,300 acres of developable land, Barrie would require approximately 4,000 acres of gross land, a much larger number than initially proposed by the city to Springwater and Oro-Medonte, according to December’s motion.
The next stage in Hemson’s study would be shared with the provincial facilitator.
Last night's direct motion did not have unanimous approval from Barrie councillors, however.
Coun. Clare Riepma said what’s being studied doesn’t go far enough.
“It seems to me if we are serious about finding the best, the most appropriate, the best serviced … land, we should be looking all the way around the city, not only in just two municipalities, but also in Essa (Township) and Innisfil,” he said. “I’m sure we’re just making two more enemies.
“We may be ending up making a big mistake because we could have got land somewhere else that would be much better suited. I think we are just tying our hands needlessly and precluding good planning," Riepma added.
Coun. Amy Courser agreed.
“It would be good to look at 360 (degrees) around the city, to look at different areas,” she said. “I thought it would be good to stretch our horizons a bit, if at all possible.”
But Nuttall said the provincial facilitator was instructed to look at land needs for Barrie, Oro-Medonte and Springwater.
“If we decide to go in a different direction, we should shut her down altogether,” Nuttall said.
Thomson said there were practical reasons for land already identified.
“The original proposal was due to the proximity to our infrastructure,” he said. “That’s how it came about.
“When you look at Oro-Medonte or Springwater, we have pipes right on the border. That’s ready to go," the deputy mayor added.
No amendment came forward on Wednesday night’s direct motion, which was supported by all councillors except Riepma and Courser.