Essa & Bradford Corridor Study

BACKGROUND

In 2009 City Council adopted the City of Barrie Intensification Study. The intent of the Study was to provide a vison and establish priorities for achieving the provincially-set growth targets for the City of Barrie while also recommending new Official Plan policies and performance standards for the Zoning By-law that would facilitate a vibrant and community-focused type of development envisioned for intensification areas. The City of Barrie’s Mixed Use Zoning categories were derived out of this Study.

In 2015, Planning Staff received direction from Infrastructure, Investment and Development Services Committee (IIDSC) to initiate a review and assessment of the potential to pre-zone the Essa Road corridor and assess the best implementation of the proposed Mixed Use Corridor (MU2) zone.

KEY DETAILS

Following a presentation by the Director of Planning & Building Services to Council on the conclusions of an employment and population study update in early 2018, Council directed Staff to include Bradford Street within the scope of the Essa Road Corridor Study. Staff then began to create a work plan for the Essa & Bradford Corridor Study (EBCS). 

Corridor Assessment & Community Engagement

In the spring of 2018, Planning Staff coordinated a broad series of in-person and online engagement initiatives to educate the public about intensification and help to visualize it in a local context. Through this engagement process, and a corresponding technical analysis by Staff, a number of outcomes emerged to guide the next steps of the EBCS:

  • Community priorities for development;
  • Specific opportunities and constraints;
  • Corridor-specific, and city-wide policy considerations;

In addition to the above, over 60 preliminary candidate sites were identified to consider for rezoning to the City’s new mixed-use zoning standards. Staff facilitated several Stakeholder workshops to collect feedback on the proposed candidate sites. Staff’s criteria for site selection focused on ensuring that any site to be proposed for rezoning met certain considerations with regards to the following:

  • Provincial and City Policy Requirements
  • Site Context
  • Property & Building Conditions
  • Development Potential
  • Public & Stakeholder Feedback

In June of 2018 City Council received a Planning & Building Services Department Memorandum which provided an update on “what we heard” during the engagement process. Planning Staff then began additional analysis and held discussions with property owners to refine the selected sites and identify key development opportunities along the corridor.

Candidate Site Refinement & Alignment with Official Plan Update

Although an updated intensification strategy will be required as part of the Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) currently being undertaken as part of the new Official Plan – Staff identified that the work on the EBCS to identify candidate sites could proceed ahead of the MCR as the corridor had previously been identified for intensification in Schedule “I” of the Official Plan.

To ensure flexibility and future compatibility with policies in any future Official Plan – staff worked to refine the selection of candidate sites to a targeted few “catalyst” sites by considering additional site selection requirements, including:

  • Eliminating sites in potential “nodes” at key intersections along the corridor to avoid the need for potential Official Plan Amendments to identify nodes on Schedule “I” of the Official Plan.
  • Eliminating sites with any requirements for site-specific Official Plan Amendments or Special Provisions.
  • Eliminating sites with significant environmental issues or remediation requirements.
  • Prioritizing development opportunities along Essa Road’s “primary intensification corridor”, as identified on Schedule “I” of the Official Plan.
  • Prioritizing sites with current development interest and activity for “quick-wins”.

Key Recommendations

Through a forthcoming Memorandum and Presentation to General Committee on June 11 2019, and a Staff Report and final recommendation to Council targeted for autumn 2019, the EBCS will make two key recommendations with regard to:

1) Policy directions for consideration through the new Official Plan, including:

  • Provision for Development Incentive Strategies
  • Policies and Direction for City-Building Initiatives and Critical Capital Projects
  • Recommendations for “node” locations along the Essa Road Corridor

2) Proposed sites for rezoning:

  • 9,11,13,15,19,21,27 and 31 Cumberland Street: “Residential Multiple Dwelling – First Density” (RM1) to “Central Area Commercial” (C1-1) zoning standards. (File: D14-1670)
  • 175 and 199 Essa Road: “General Commercial” (C4) to “Mixed Use Corridor” with  Holding Provision (MU2)(H) (File:D14-1671)
  • 550 and 552 Essa Road: “Residential Single Detached” (R1) to “Mixed Use Corridor” (MU2) (File: D14-1672)