Barrie council turns down south-end high school plan

By Laurie Watt Barrie Advance

The Simcoe County District School Board should go re-read the city’s development rules before it revises its south high school plans.

That’s the message Mayor Jeff Lehman and councillors told senior school board officials Monday night, officials who left the room quietly without saying a word.

Lehman told education director Kathi Wallace and facilities superintendent John Dance they had no one to blame but themselves for city planners refusing to approve the plans for a high school on a site at the corner of Mapleview Drive East and Prince William Way.

Councillors voted unanimously to refuse to overturn staff’s recommendation.

Barrie’s development and urban design guidelines resulted from a five-year process and the city is not prepared to ignore the public input to speed up the school that’s now two years behind, the mayor said.

“It was an unprecedented planning effort in the city and dare I say it, in the county. We had thousands of people attending meetings over the years to create the plans for the Hewitt’s Creek and Salem secondary plans. We were aiming for a better quality of neighbourhood building.”

Barrie created a guide for developers to avoid the mistakes of the past, he added.

“Those plans should not be a surprise to anybody,” Lehman said.

“Our staff have been very clear and strongly recommended against the school where it is on the site,” he continued.

The school board is proposing putting the school in the southeast portion of the site, away from the intersection of Mapleview Drive and Prince William Way. The board’s development proposal also puts parking behind the three-storey school and portables close to the rear fence line of future residential backyards.

Ward 8 Coun. Arif Khan said that proposal won’t sell with homebuyers who do not want portables so close to their backyards.

“For anyone wanting to hang out, school parking lots are often an ideal location and that will be right on the rear yards,” said Khan.

“I don’t see a single element (of the city’s development guidelines) that were taken into consideration. This is ignoring the entire policy.”

Ward 10 Coun. Mike McCann said he’d do what he could to expedite the process once the school board complied with the city’s policies.

“The SCDSB is the first builder in the new annexed lands, which are the size of Orillia,” said McCann.

“Five years ago, city councillors and planners put together a vision for the annexed lands and the Hewitt’s Creek secondary plan. This is the first application going forward. The board is trying to change the game.”

A final decision will be made at council on Sept. 21