Barrie’s planning department gives go-ahead to project that will bring 600 residential units to downtown core

Ontario Construction News staff writer

Barrie’s planning committee has given the green light to a proposed development that will bring 600 residential units to the west of the downtown core, spread among three towers on 6.94 acres.

The proposed mixed-use, high-rise project by HIP Developments includes a new three-story 77,000-square-foot YMCA. Two of the towers will be 20 storeys in height, while the third will be 10 storeys.

The city could receive $12.4 million in development fees from the residential component of project, and $1.48 million from the YMCA. Cash-in-lieu of parkland will amount to $3.25 million, plus five per cent of assessed land value of the YCMA site, Barrietoday.ca reports. The education levy will be $1.8 million, while the finance administration fee will be $45,150.

The development includes a semi-public urban parkette that contains the heritage façade of the Prince of Wales Elementary School, just south of the intersection.  A five-storey parking structure and surface parking is proposed to serve the entire development, providing a total of 822 parking spaces (600 parking spaces for residential units and one space per four persons for the YMCA.

A staff report on the development recommends approving a requested rezoning of the lands known municipally as 34-50 Bradford Street, to clear the way for the project to proceed subject to a number of conditions, including maximum and minimum heights: a minimum building height of 4.5 metres and a maximum building height of 22 metres within the first five metres of the front lot line; a maximum building height of 70 metres (20 storeys) beyond the first five metres of the front lot line.

Staff recommends approval of the application, reads the report, as the lands are considered appropriate for this form of mixed-use development in accordance with provincial and municipal policy.

“Staff is recommending a special provision for building height that permits the additional maximum height of 70 metres as proposed, but which maintains the intent of the step-back provisions to create a pedestrian-focused and human-scale development,” reads the report written by Michelle Banfield, Director of Development Services.

A street extension will:

• assist in alleviating traffic capacity issues within the surrounding transportation network (including Dunlop Street and Lakeshore Drive), which considers other development proposals the City is aware of in the area
• implement the vision for the active transportation network, as outlined in the City of Barrie’s Transportation Master Plan, and improve connectivity to the downtown and waterfront
• break down a large, impervious block to facilitate a more compact development form that is more in keeping with the existing urban fabric (streets and block sizes) and improves the walkability of the area
• provide access and servicing to all surrounding public and private developments
• provide an alternative egress and emergency service route for Emergency Services (Fire)

The proposed development is also in line with the City’s intensification policies, Banfield wrote.

“These policies implement the City of Barrie Intensification Study that was completed in 2009 which encourages residential intensification to be directed to the Urban Growth Centre (UGC), Intensification Nodes, Intensification Corridors, and the Major Transit Station Areas.”