When Oro-Medonte council convenes Wednesday afternoon, it will determine what direction the township will take when it comes to dealing with the City of Barrie’s proposed boundary expansion plans.
According to the report, outlining options regarding Barrie's proposed boundary expansion and Hemson Consulting's analysis and study, written by Oro-Medonte chief administrative officer Shawn Binns and George Vadeboncoeur, the township's manager of planning special projects, council members will have three options.
Option 1:
The township continues to engage with the Provincial Land Development Facilitator, Township of Springwater, City of Barrie and the County of Simcoe based on the terms of reference outlined by Hemson Consulting for the Stage 3 study and analysis.
That the cost of the analysis pertaining to Little Lake be broken out separately.
That Oro-Medonte only pays its proportional costs relating to refining employment land needs, water and wastewater servicing review and financial impact analysis.
Option 2:
Oro-Medonte disengage from the facilitation process as it has been determined that Barrie has sufficient employment lands to 2051.
Alternatively, council could consider limiting the scope of facilitation to community/residential uses and/or seek to engage with the City of Barrie about cross-border servicing outside the facilitation process.
Option 3:
Council informs the Provincial Land Development Facilitator that Stage 3 of the land needs analysis and study be scoped to only include a single phase as a next step to determine the following before considering further phases:
1. Develop revised long-term forecasts to 2051 for population, households, housing by type, employment and employment by type for the participating municipalities to 2051, as well as detailed forecasts for any land being considered in the boundary adjustment (from Hemson Stage 3 recommended work plan). Including:
a) Verify the amount of currently designated developable employment land by type (manufacturing versus commercial) available in the City of Barrie is sufficient to 2051, since the definition of employment land changed in new Provincial Planning Statement (PPS), 2024.
b) Determine if the population targets in Barrie’s Official Plan are reasonable given the land available within the Barrie boundary and the density provisions in place (Barrie planned density versus typical suburban density).
c) Undertake a market-demand assessment and review of empirical growth rates to inform the establishment of three growth scenarios and considerations/implications to the Barrie census area.
d) Calculate the developable land available in Barrie versus total land needs (40 per cent non-development factor).
e) Request that Hemson verify the City of Barrie’s assertion that 40 per cent of any annexed land is non-development land. Costing to be determined following the scoping of Stage 3.
Oro-Medonte staff are recommending council support Option No. 3.
The Stage 2 joint land-needs assessment and study was presented to Oro-Medonte and Springwater townships and the City of Barrie on Dec. 11, 2024.
Following the presentation in Barrie, city council unanimously passed a direct motion Dec. 11.
The motion is that given the information contained within the joint needs analysis and study Stage 1 and 2, completed by Hemson, the City of Barrie’s experience with developable land within the city’s boundary and historical experience with the 2009 Innisfil boundary adjustment, the initial land-request proposals to the townships of Springwater and Oro-Medonte be reassessed to better respect and identify the city’s demonstrated need for vacant land required for comprehensive community employment land and residential housing, in order to meet provincial targets.
And that an updated request to include the Little Lake area land in addition to the 4,000 acres of gross land, be forwarded to the province and provincial land facilitator with a request for this matter to be dealt with quickly.
Also, that Mayor Alex Nuttall and Barrie’s chief administrative officer (CAO) continue with the meeting identified by the provincial land facilitator to negotiate an update to Barrie’s border with neighbouring municipalities and staff report back on Jan. 8, 2025 with the scope of work to proceed with Stage 3, to identify Barrie’s border with neighbouring municipalities and that, as part of the report back, staff verify the developable industrial land needs identified by Hemson.
A city memo that was issued on Jan. 8 offered the latest update.
“Hemson Consulting has completed their draft scope of work, and the provincial land facilitator has circulated the draft report for comment,” said Michael Prowse, Barrie's CAO. “The City of Barrie staff have provided initial comments and are awaiting next steps in the process from the provincial land facilitator.
“Once formalized, a further update will be provided to council,” he added.
The memo was not discussed at either affordability or general committee meetings on Jan. 8.
While staff in Barrie were reviewing the Hemson report, staff in Oro-Medonte were doing the same. They reached different conclusions:
“Staff have reviewed the Stage 2 report and the City of Barrie response in detail and have determined that there are a number of outstanding questions with respect to the amount of land the City of Barrie is stating as being required,” Binns and Vadeboncoeur wrote in their report. “Staff are of the view that it is important there is congruence with objective baseline land-needs data before undertaking any additional analysis relating to the options Hemson has outlined.
“In that regard, staff are recommending that council advise the Office of the Provincial Land Development Facilitator that it is prepared to support a scoped Stage 3 study and analysis, as outlined in Option 3,” they added in the report.
Township staff would report back to council following further discussion on the scope of work and proportionate costing.
Springwater Township council received the presentation and supported continuing to engage with the other municipalities to consider the Stage 3 scope of work.
Simcoe County Warden Basil Clarke expressed some concern following the Dec. 11 presentations.
“For many years Simcoe County, its local municipalities and the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia have worked collaboratively together and succeeded together as a region,” he said in a news release dated Dec. 17.
“In the midst of formal discussion and process with the province and the Provincial Development Facilitator, we are surprised and frankly disappointed by the last-minute, significant request for lands contrary to the findings, as well as the subsequent communications and positioning at this early point in the process without the benefit of collaboration and understanding by the partners and further evaluation by Hemson Consulting, the expert retained by all partners to assess such information," Clarke added.
“It wasn’t that long ago that significant lands in Innisfil, which were provided by the previous Liberal provincial government without due process or reasonable compensation, were to meet the city’s long-term needs.”
The warden went on to say the county supports all municipalities and their plans and abilities to accommodate good growth, including Barrie’s role in the region as a larger urban centre to provide housing.
“However, history should not repeat itself and good planning and built form must prevail over more urban sprawl,” he said
