Zoning By-law Consultation

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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.

Curious about zoning? Watch this video.

Next Steps

Next Draft of the Zoning By-law

Work continues at the City of Barrie to create a new comprehensive Zoning By-law, which will be designed to implement the vision and policies of Barrie’s recently approved Official Plan. Below is an update on where we currently are in the process:

October 23, 2023
The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Paul Calandra, announced his “priority to review past decisions related to land use planning, including official plans and minister’s zoning orders, to ensure that these earlier decisions support our goal of building at least 1.5 million homes in a manner that maintains and reinforces public trust” and asked heads of Council to submit comments on Official Plan modifications by December 7.

November 22, 2023
The City of Barrie held a Town Hall to gather stakeholder feedback regarding the Official Plan modifications. Mayor Nuttall submitted the City of Barrie’s recommendations on the Official Plan to the Minister on December 6, and the submission included feedback received by the public through email and comments at the Town Hall.

December 6, 2023
The Ontario Legislature gave Royal Assent to the Bill 150,Planning Statue Law Amendment Act, 2023, reversing the Provincial modifications made to the City of Barrie’s Official Plan, bringing into effect the Official Plan as adopted by Council.

The next draft of the Zoning By-law is currently being developed as we await provincial approval, so this has delayed the release of draft three of the document. City staff anticipate the next draft of the Zoning By-law will be released for statutory public consultation after the Province has released their decision on the City’s recommendations. At that time, draft three will be released for public consultation. An Open House and Public Meeting will take place to gather feedback, and we will welcome your participation at that time.

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 (and previous updates were just that – updates/minor tweaking). The City realizes that some land use planning best practices have changed, and that we also have new concerns that we need to respond to today.

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.

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, an interim second draft was released for public and stakeholder consultation. This pre-release focused on fine-tuning (i.e. catching errors, missing definitions etc.) the document before Draft 2.0 is released for statutory 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. at Southshore Community Centre, 205 Lakeshore Drive in Barrie. These meetings were a chance to learn more about the existing Zoning By-law and potential updates.

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.

Curious about zoning? Watch this video.

Next Steps

Next Draft of the Zoning By-law

Work continues at the City of Barrie to create a new comprehensive Zoning By-law, which will be designed to implement the vision and policies of Barrie’s recently approved Official Plan. Below is an update on where we currently are in the process:

October 23, 2023
The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Paul Calandra, announced his “priority to review past decisions related to land use planning, including official plans and minister’s zoning orders, to ensure that these earlier decisions support our goal of building at least 1.5 million homes in a manner that maintains and reinforces public trust” and asked heads of Council to submit comments on Official Plan modifications by December 7.

November 22, 2023
The City of Barrie held a Town Hall to gather stakeholder feedback regarding the Official Plan modifications. Mayor Nuttall submitted the City of Barrie’s recommendations on the Official Plan to the Minister on December 6, and the submission included feedback received by the public through email and comments at the Town Hall.

December 6, 2023
The Ontario Legislature gave Royal Assent to the Bill 150,Planning Statue Law Amendment Act, 2023, reversing the Provincial modifications made to the City of Barrie’s Official Plan, bringing into effect the Official Plan as adopted by Council.

The next draft of the Zoning By-law is currently being developed as we await provincial approval, so this has delayed the release of draft three of the document. City staff anticipate the next draft of the Zoning By-law will be released for statutory public consultation after the Province has released their decision on the City’s recommendations. At that time, draft three will be released for public consultation. An Open House and Public Meeting will take place to gather feedback, and we will welcome your participation at that time.

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 (and previous updates were just that – updates/minor tweaking). The City realizes that some land use planning best practices have changed, and that we also have new concerns that we need to respond to today.

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.

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, an interim second draft was released for public and stakeholder consultation. This pre-release focused on fine-tuning (i.e. catching errors, missing definitions etc.) the document before Draft 2.0 is released for statutory 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. at Southshore Community Centre, 205 Lakeshore Drive in Barrie. These meetings were a chance to learn more about the existing Zoning By-law and potential updates.

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Page last updated: 07 Feb 2024, 05:06 PM