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Barrie mayor ‘very surprised’ by board appeal to the OMB over downtown site

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In Barrie
Jan 22nd, 2014
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By Cheryl Browne, Barrie Examiner

Confusion over an education centre in downtown Barrie is being brought to you by the letter H.

While Mayor Jeff Lehman might have a few choice words he’d like to attribute to it, a City of Barrie’s zoning bylaw is currently being challenged by the Simcoe County District School Board based on an ‘H’ or ‘hold’ designation placed on city-owned property near Barrie Central Collegiate on Dunlop Street West.

The board has reviewed the city’s recently rezoned land and has sent an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), explained Brian Jeffs, superintendent of business at the school board.

“That ‘H’ would require us to not only develop our lands, but to facilitate the development of the city’s lands,” Jeffs said. “It’s not just Barrie Central and Prince of Wales, but all of the surrounding lands as well. We have no control over the city-owned property.”

In Schedule ‘A’ of the board’s OMB appeal of Bylaw 2013-83, ‘the board objects to the application of a holding provision pursuant to section 36 of the Planning Act…’

Lehman said he just heard about the board’s appeal of the zoning Friday.

“I was very surprised,” he said, adding the city’s planning staff are currently reviewing December’s zoning changes.

It hasn’t been the only hiccup along the way.

The Liberal government’s 2011 election promise of providing funding for several new universities in Ontario may come to fruition this year – another election year.

Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Brad Duguid mentioned on a visit to Barrie on Wednesday he was expecting a request for proposal to be offered this spring for cities and universities to bid on one of the three allotments.

The December release of the province’s Major Capacity Expansion Policy provides the framework for cities and universities to put together competitive bids which Duguid said would be handed out at the end of the year,

Or, in other words, held off until after the fall election.

“It’s a very competitive process,” Duguid said. “Laurentian has been very active and I’m sure they will put together a very competitive bid.”

Duguid said the province’s decision about where to locate a new university will be based on the best impact for students, most cost-effective bid and in a city where population growth supports the university’s infrastructure.

The City of Barrie and Laurentian have pledged $14 million each for a Barrie campus and are still looking to the province to hand over its share of $40 million.

Laurentian has looked at both the Barrie Central site, which includes the former Prince of Wales public school, Red Storey Field and the former fire station property, which altogether cover approximately 11 acres.

They’ve also looked at the former Barrie fairgrounds on Essa Road, which has two separate parcels of land equalling either 39 acres or 20 acres.

Jeffs said the board filed the OMB appeal because if they didn’t challenge it now, they wouldn’t be able to challenge it later.

“But there’s lots of opportunities for the board and the city to sit down and say ‘let’s think about this’,” he said. “I really think we can negotiate this and find something that’s really acceptable to both sides.

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