Zoning By-law Consultation

The City of Barrie is in the process of creating a new comprehensive Zoning By-law, which will be designed to implement the vision and policies of Barrie’s recently approved Official Plan (May 2024).

Curious about zoning? Watch this video.

What's next?

Draft Three of the Zoning By-law

With the recent approval of Barrie's Official Plan, the next draft of the Zoning By-law has been developed, including an updated mapping tool to assist residents in locating the proposed zoning of their property.

As comments on Draft Three are being received, there are some immediate items being flagged which City staff can respond to right away. A working document, including comments indicating revisions, will be posted here regularly, as it's updated. This document is titled “Working copy of draft 3 Zoning By-law (with comments)”.

Please see the latest draft documents below (and also in the "Documents" section on the right):

• Working copy of draft 3 Zoning By-law (with comments)
• Proposed Mapping changes
• Explainer document
• Proposed draft 3 Zoning By-law
• Proposed draft 3 Zoning By-law - combined document with appendix
• Zoning By-law draft 3 Explainer - Built Form Definitions
• Zoning By-law draft 3 - User Guide
• Zoning Map
• Appendix A - Special Provisions & Hold Provisions
• Appendix B - Overlay Zones
• Appendix C - Drinking Water System Vulnerable Areas
• Appendix D - Parking District Map
• Appendix E - Railway Lines and TransCanada Pipeline
• Appendix F - Road Classification
• Urban Design Guidelines - At a Glance

• Urban Design Guidelines (note: as part of the process to implement the Official Plan, the City's Urban Design Guidelines were also updated). This document provides direction for site and building design to communicate a baseline of expectation for development and clarity for the community, stakeholders, developers, and City staff as they work together to achieve design excellence for all new developments across the city.

An Open House and Public Meeting will take place this fall to gather feedback, and we will welcome public participation:

• In-person open house
  Took place on September 17, from 5 to 7 p.m.
  City Hall Rotunda (70 Collier Street, Barrie)
  
  
• Virtual (online) open house (watch the recording)
  Took place on September 19, from 3 to 4:15 p.m.
  
  
• Public meeting: Affordability Committee (view the public notice)
  November 14, starting at 6 p.m.
  City Hall Council Chambers (70 Collier Street, Barrie)
  Note: The original meeting, scheduled for October 1, was cancelled due to an unexpected power outage.

Residents are also invited to share comments about the new proposed Zoning By-law by emailing newzoningbylaw@barrie.ca by 11:59 p.m. on November 14, 2024.

Why does the Zoning By-law matter to me?

Residents, business, and industry stakeholders should be interested in this process as it may affect them in the following ways:

• This is a key document the helps implement Barrie’s new Official Plan.
• A Zoning By-law controls the use of land in our community; it tells us how land may be used, where buildings and other structures can be located, the types and form of buildings that are permitted, and how those buildings can be used.
• It tells you what you are allowed to do with your property like widening your driveway, adding an addition to your home, and requirements for fences, landscaping, parking, etc.
• The introduction of a ‘Form Based Approach’ to zoning land, which means splitting uses from building types, which aims to create greater flexibility in land use and make it easier for residents, businesses, and industry stakeholders to use the by-law.

This is the first new Zoning By-law for Barrie in 13 years. There are many ways to approach a Zoning By-law, and the City hopes to ensure we land on a document that is user-friendly for residents and the wider development community.

The Planning Act, the Official Plan, and the Zoning By-law

The Ontario Planning Act is the law that governs planning in Ontario. Planning is also guided by the Provincial Policy Statement, a policy that is equal to a law. The City’s Official Plan and Zoning By-law must follow provincial laws. The City’s Official Plan sets out a vision and policies to manage growth and future land use that aligns with the provincial laws.

Through the Official Plan, the location of land use designations (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional), minimum and maximum building heights and density requirements have been determined and are reflected in the Zoning By-law.

The Zoning By-law puts the Official Plan vision and policies into place through the day-to-day administration of the land use rules.

Previous Consultation

Special Provisions (late Summer 2023)

When released, Draft 2.0 will help reconcile over 600 Special Provisions (SPs) currently in-effect. These SPs affect over 4,600 properties in Barrie ranging from individual lots to whole subdivisions. They are established through stand-alone By-Laws, each of which provides an area or individual property with a set of specific permissions, regulations or other interpretive clauses. The City has reviewed all in-effect SPs to determine if it is appropriate for them to be removed or maintained. This means that, in some cases, an SP affecting a property currently could be altered.

A letter to all affected property owners was sent out in late August, 2023, with deadline for feedback being September 29, 2023. While property owners were encouraged to provide feedback, this was not required. Rather, property owners had the option to defer to staff’s recommendation by simply not sending feedback in writing.

The first round of consultation on in-effect special provisions concluded on September 29, 2023. Additional consultation on in-effect special provisions is anticipated following the release of the next draft of the Zoning By-Law.

Zoning By-law - Draft 2 Development (Summer 2023)

As part of Draft 2 Zoning By-law development, a second draft was released for public and stakeholder consultation. This draft was developed addressing public and stakeholder feedback on draft 1.

Zoning By-law - Draft 1 (Spring 2023)
The first draft of the new Zoning By-law and the first draft Zoning Map were available for consultation until April 28,2023 via the forum below and by email. Public Information Centre (PIC) meetings were held April 19 (in person) and April 20 (virtually), 2023. Proposed changes provided more permissive and flexible zoning categories, high quality public realm while responding to zoning trends and best planning practices. Some of the highlights of the new comprehensive Zoning By-law included Zoning in Neighbourhood Areas, parking, Zoning the entire City and Employment Areas and backyard chickens. Full details here. Please see memo to council for highlight of comments received.

Public Education and Information Meetings (Fall 2022)
Phase 1 (now complete) helped clarify what belongs in the Zoning By-law and the approach the City should take in the creation of the new document. The City offered public education campaign for residents about zoning, and what a zoning By-law can (and can’t) do. Consultation consisted of a virtual Public Information Centre meeting held on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The presentation (PDF) from this meeting is saved in the "Documents" section on the right-hand side of this page. An in-person Public Information Centre meeting was held on Thursday, November 10, 2022, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. These meetings were a chance to learn more about the existing Zoning By-law and potential updates.