The fate of a huge residential development proposed for Barrie’s old fairgrounds on Essa Road rests again with city council.
In a letter dated Jan. 10, 2025 and addressed to Mayor Alex Nuttall, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra said the rezoning needed to build more than 4,000 residences there should be decided by the city, not the province, as requested by council.
“I have decided that this matter would be best addressed through the municipal planning process, so I am declining this request,” Calandra said in the letter.
The minister noted Barrie’s request to use the Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator (CIHA) tool to rezone land, located at 175 and 199 Essa Rd. and 50 Wood St., for a mixed-use development.
But Calandra said that in April 2024, the province introduced legislation that removed the CIHA tool. The following May, Barrie’s CIHA request was consulted upon to determine whether it should be considered as a minister’s zoning order (MZO) request, pending confirmation of municipal support.
“The City of Barrie did not provide a written response to that consultation,” Calandra said. “Meanwhile, the ministry has continued working with city staff and the proponent (Greenworld Construction) to address alignment with the zoning order framework released in April 2024.
“However, it remains unclear why this proposal requires ministerial zoning relief and could not be advanced through the municipal planning process," the minister added.
Calandra said there is further environmental and archaeological work that could be addressed more efficiently through the municipal planning process, and an outstanding local issue regarding school sites.
“In this case, an MZO would not facilitate getting shovels in the ground faster,” he said.
Arnie Ivsins, who lives on nearly Alfred Street, said the rezoning — from from highway industrial to residential and open space — should be dealt with by local officials.
“I think city staff and (Ward 8) Coun. Jim Harris have a firmer grasp on the issues at hand,” he said. “And, hopefully, they will work collaboratively with neighbourhood associations and the neighbours that live here.
“The proposed development is enormous in its current state. You can’t put 10,000-plus people in this small area without a well-thought-out plan with all the stakeholders involved,” Ivsins added. “What are the affordable housing options? The current plan doesn’t address them.”
Ivsins also noted that provincial officials at Queen's Park in Toronto don’t know the fairgrounds area and demands on aging infrastructure, including the effect on the local population, the strain on school boards, environmental concerns and subsequent traffic issues connected with the large scale of the proposed development of this community.
Harris, who represents this area, said he was not surprised by Calandra’s response once the province removed the CIHA tool.
Harris did not have an answer on when council will deal with the rezoning application.
“With this site now approaching two decades of being under-utilized, I look forward to re-engaging with residents, partners, city staff and the developer to address the issues that need to be resolved to ensure the proposed development meets the needs of our community,” he said.
In a recent memo to council, Michelle Banfield, Barrie’s executive director of development services, said city staff and the property owner have been meeting to determine the next steps to bring this project forward for council’s consideration.
Greenworld Construction could not be reached for comment Friday.
Last March, Barrie city council gave final approval to a motion supporting a CIHA application to the province, which could have lead to building thousands of residences on 55.3 acres at Highway 400 and Essa Road.
The 4,054 total residences, along with commercial uses and a school block, break down to 13 residential towers of 15 to 40 storeys, 113 townhouses and 98 three-storey townhouses.
The Simcoe County District School Board and Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board have collectively requested approximately 12 acres of developable land for future schools there. Greenworld had identified six acres in the CIHA submission.
In a Jan. 13 letter to Calandra, Nuttall said the intention behind the CIHA/MZO request was to establish the land-use planning principles and the matter of two school boards requesting school sites.
“The city expected the more detailed planning processes, such as draft plan of subdivision and site plan, would have addressed the usual technical items,” he said. “Nonetheless, we will work through the municipal planning approvals process for this site to bring more housing and community uses to the city.
“The issue of which school board will develop on this site, however, is outside of our local control and we are seeking assistance to resolve this matter,” Nuttall added. “In addition to the unresolved issue of the school board site, you (Calandra) indicated that ministry staff had concerns on this application from an environmental, archaeological and transportation perspective.”
He asked that those concerns be shared with city planning staff by Jan. 30, 2025, to be included as part of their technical review.
Also proposed in the new development is 196 parking spaces for the townhouses and 3,260 spots for the highrises, including those in a five-storey parking podium. There could be a public/private park almost a half-acre in size and walking trails.
Commercial uses would front Essa Road, and there would be no development on the Wood Street property, which includes Hotchkiss Creek. It would be for stormwater management and open space uses.
The development proposed includes two new city access points from Essa Road and Anne Street.
Also in council’s motion is that there be direction from the Ontario ministries of municipal affairs and housing, education and transportation, as this residential development has potential school sites and transportation concerns — on Essa Road, for example.
The CIHA gave Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing the power to make orders to respond to municipal requests to speed approvals of rezoning, in this case from highway industrial to residential and open space.
MZOs override legal and policy protections for land in Ontario, and cannot be appealed.
