And there it was, buried in a housekeeping amendment, part of Barrie council’s unanimous Dec. 11 approval of the city portion of its 2025 budget.
‘That Capital Project EN1564 — Waterfront Multipurpose Youth Artificial Sports Field (page 79 of the Capital Plan) be deleted,” it read.
Just one more reminder of the substantial miscalculation by a majority of councillors who thought, or were persuaded, that putting a sports field near Barrie’s waterfront was a good idea.
It was not, and the public backlash eventually convinced enough councillors of their wrong-headed direction.
Residents held peaceful rallies in the Barrie City Hall courtyard, against the field’s location. There were silent protests in the Council Chambers gallery. People even went to the proposed sports field site, carrying signs decrying the decision.
May approval of the sports field location turned into October rejection, and a new plan.
Now the sports field is headed to the old Fisher auditorium land on Dunlop Street West, formerly Barrie Central Collegiate property. The new performing arts centre (which had been rumoured for the Fisher land) is heading to the Sea Cadets/Navy League site on Lakeshore Drive, near the Spirit Catcher, and the young sailors to an expansion of the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre, right on Kempenfelt Bay.
And cadet parade grounds will be part of the Dunlop West field, which awaits an announcement by a large sports/entertainment firm to sponsor or fund the pitch and/or those who will play there.
It’s all very hush-hush, but we’re told it’s nothing but good news for Barrie.
Much of the new plans are just that. They still need to be designed, funded and built. Years away stuff.
Granted, the ‘deleted’ statement came from one of those council motion’s which need a translator.
‘That Capital Project RP1188 - Fleet Replacement Program (Active) (page 36 of the Capital Plan) be increased by $1.6 million in 2025, $2.4 million in 2026 and $2.5 million in 2027, with the entire $6.5 million to be funded from the Fleet Management Reserve. That Capital Project EN1564 - Waterfront Multipurpose Youth Artificial Sports Field (page 79 of the Capital Plan) be deleted with the identified funds being transferred to a new Capital Project entitled “Downtown Barrie Sports Field and Cadet Parading Grounds” to align with motion 24-G-223 adopted by City Council on October 23, 2024.’
So it was a money matter, just a housekeeping item, but it shows how mighty plans have fallen, as the expression goes.
The lesson is there are certain front-burner issues for Barrie residents, and protecting the waterfront against even perceived threats is one of them.
That same lesson should have been learned when, in 2017, plans were afoot for a sports stadium/entertainment facility — again along Lakeshore Drive, again near or on the waterfront.
The council of the day had the good sense to back away from those plans.
The current council, to its credit, had the good sense to change its stance on the multi-purpose artificial turf youth sports field.
But not until councillors understood which way the winds of public opinion were blowing, and didn’t want to get swept off the dock and into Kempenfelt Bay.
The point is that if councillors don’t know the hot-button issues in Barrie, they had better learn them.
That is, of course, if they don’t want their big plans ending up as part of an 11th hour budget amendment, squeezed in just before Christmas break.
Bob Bruton covers city council for BarrieToday, an affiliate of InnisfilToday. The next lesson is that people don’t like losing the land they have, even with the threat of Big Brother lurking, and are likely to cry foul.
