New land inventory website supports growth in Simcoe County

By Ian McInroy, Barrie Examiner

A new land inventory website launched by Simcoe County is intended to support economic growth and investment in the region.

The county economic development office’s land inventory portal will assist potential investors, businesses or site selectors to identify properties for potential new locations, expansion or relocation in the county, according to Rachel Sullivan, manager of economic development.

“We need to be more investment-ready at the county level and with municipalities in general. This is a great tool for us to move the yard stick in that regard,” she said. “A lot of site selectors or investors do a lot of their research online before we even hear about them. So it’s important that we present all the opportunities that are available in Simcoe County for them in one spot.”

County officials looked at sites in Calgary, Ottawa and the Niagara Region to see how those municipalities were garnering economic development.

“We liked the model they were looking at but we investigated further and we realized we had the capability to have a made-in-Simcoe County platform. It’s built off of our Geographic Information Systems platform,” Sullivan said.

The portal is a marketing tool to promote business development purposes, whether it’s for a new location or an expansion opportunity, she said, adding that site selectors are companies hired by businesses to look for potential expansion or new location option.

“The community profile information that we’ve got on the website answers some of those commonly asked questions: what are your demographics, what is your labour force like, what are consumer expenditure details for the community,” Sullivan said. “It’s something that consolidates all the regional listings in one portal but then also adds those additional features that gives businesses additional information that are either looking to move here or looking to expand locally.

“So if there is a local manufacturer as well that is looking to expand it’s important for them. It’s not just for external businesses, it’s for internal ones too,” she said. “It’s all about helping existing land owners market their properties.”

The county’s economic development office staff will also be working very closely with area real estate agents to ensure the properties they have get another platform to showcase the properties they are representing, she added.

“It becomes that one-stop shop for people to look at for opportunities in the whole area and we direct people back to the real estate agents who represent those properties,” Sullivan said.

Simcoe County has formed agreements with local real estate boards, including the Barrie and District Association of Realtors, the Southern Georgian Bay Association of Realtors and the Lakelands Association of Realtors.

If a property is not represented by a realtor from one of the participating real estate boards, the owner or property representative can submit their property details directly to the county’s economic development office, she added.

The land inventory website can be accessed at www.edo.simcoe.ca/properties.