Barrie blasts county's growth plan

Posted By BOB BRUTON

Posted 4 hours ago

Two thumbs, both way down.

That’s Barrie’s official early reaction to the County of Simcoe’s draft growth plan.

“At a time when the province has called on municipalities to change the way we grow, the county is proposing this area go in exactly the opposite direction,” said Barrie Coun. Barry Ward, chairman of the city’s ad hoc growth committee.

“It is time for the County of Simcoe to embrace this change and reconsider their draft growth plan.”

Released in mid-April, it looks forward to 2031 and includes information on jobs, where people will live and specific population allotments for each municipality.

But Ward says the county’s draft growth plan contravenes Places to Grow and provincial policy direction - which Barrie endorses.

“It (the county plan) is only paying lip service to the province’s directive,” he said.

Simcoe County Warden Tony Guergis says he disagrees, that the growth plan is in line with Places to Grow.

“While we are disappointed in Barrie’s posturing, we. . .are pleased that they will be complying with the Places to Grow density and intensification targets in their planning documents,” he said. “Stopping urban sprawl, intensifying development, preserving farmland, protecting our environment, developing efficiencies in infrastructure and services as stated by Barrie are important goals for us all and common ground to build on.”

Guergis said the growth plan was presented to the public at a series of open houses held in April and the response was good.

“Residents applauded the process which was open, transparent and invited extensive public input,” he said.

But Coun. John Brassard, who also sits on the Barrie committee, said the growth plan doesn’t work.

“It’s time for the county and its leader(s), both at council and the bureaucracy, to realize their limits from a planning, servicing, and environmental standpoint,” he said, “and stop playing politics with the process and understand that it’s within everyone’s best interest to plan for growth in this area that conforms to the province’s award-winning plan (Places to Grow) that the City of Barrie has wholeheartedly embraced.”

Places to Grow, a plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area, challenges municipalities to become complete communities. They’re to offer a full range of jobs, housing, services, public transit and health care - as well as recreational, educational and cultural opportunities.

The plan also asks municipalities to end urban sprawl, intensify development, preserve farmland, get people out of automobiles, protect the environment, make effective use of infrastructure and make the most of economic opportunities.

But Barrie officials say the county draft plan promotes more urban sprawl, greenfield development over revitalization, more long-distance commuting, less use of public transit and incomplete communities.

Places to Grow identifies Barrie as the only urban growth centre in Central Ontario, yet the county plan only gives the city 25 per cent of the unallocated population growth, and 15 per cent of the unallocated new employment.

“Barrie’s share of the county’s population would actually decline,” Ward said, “while its employment share would barely hold its own, hardly a ‘significant share’ of overall growth.”

Guergis doesn’t see it that way, however.

“Barrie is certainly an important part of the solution as the biggest urban centre in our region and we respect that position,” he said. “But the city is just one of 18 voices that we need to consider in this process that will prosper by the planning decisions we are making today.”

Ward said that while his committee’s criticisms of the county’s growth plan may sound harsh, this issue is just too important.

“If mistakes are made, they will be hard to correct. We’ll have to live with them for many, many years,” he said. “Let’s get it right from the start.”

A more detailed response to the county’s draft growth plan, prepared by city planning staff, will be considered by Barrie councillors on May 26.

The growth plan would be implemented through a new county Official Plan, which also requires provincial approval before becoming law.

Contact the writer at bbruton@thebarrieexaminer.com