County warden sounds off on ongoing boundary dispute between municipalities

As tensions heat up between Barrie and its neighbouring municipalities over a possible change in boundaries, the warden is working towards getting everyone on the same page.

On Tuesday afternoon County of Simcoe Warden Basil Clarke released a statement in response to a recently published third-party report into Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall's push for a change in municipal borders with its neighbouring municipalities.

"I'm a little bit frustrated because when this started out we were looking at employment lands and now the shift has changed," County of Simcoe Warden Basil Clarke said to CTV News. 

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The report, conducted by Hemson Consulting, stated the city has enough land to meet employment needs until 2051 but pointed to a potential stagnation in the short term.

"The employment land, which was the original issue, that's been put to bed; Barrie has enough land, as does the surrounding area until 2051," Clarke said. "So now we're looking at residential. We need to take another fresh look at it."

Clarke referencing the report's findings that the "case for additional land for Barrie for only employment area uses is relatively weak."

The report indicates the city’s strongest case for annexation lies in addressing a growing housing demand, particularly for mixed-use developments that combine residential and employment opportunities, something Clarke agrees with.

"We know we need housing, housing of all sorts, because there is such a housing crunch not only in Ontario, not only in Simcoe County but across this country," Clarke said. "So we're all on board with that and that's why I encourage everybody to get back to the table and start negotiating real solutions."

Clarke's comments came nearly a week after Hemson Consulting presented their findings to Barrie, Springwater and Oro-Medonte councils. It's a result of a push started by Barrie's mayor more than a year ago, arguing that the City is out of usable employment lands and is unable to lure new and large employers without a change in boundaries.

"You'll remember there was over 400 businesses that sent in letters saying we need more land in Barrie to be able to expand manufacturing, to be able to expand the number of jobs here in this city," Nuttall said to CTV News on December 11. "We agree with that."

The report instead suggests Barrie city council prioritize lands in Barrie's south end saying these "provide the City with the best opportunity for a 'full service' employment cluster" pointing to their proximity to Hwy. 400 amongst other benefits.

However that differs from the priorities of Barrie's mayor. Nuttall says the cost to service those lands annexed from Innisfil would be too expensive. He's looking to expand the city's north end in the Penetanguishene Road area, lands currently zoned for agricultural purposes in Oro-Medonte.

"That particular corridor is not a place where you want to see commercial development, the interchange, the lay of the land," said Clarke. "It's not designed for that type of growth; subdivisions, maybe; Housing, possibly. Right now it's farmland and we have to look at that."

Clarke says the county has plenty of employment lands available and is hoping to find an amicable approach towards a solution that benefits the entire region. He says the growth of the region should be focused in Barrie's south, not north.

"We're very strategic that we want to see the growth on the south part of Barrie when it comes to industrial lands," said Clarke. "There's no secret that's where Honda is. That's going to be the largest economic driver, I think, in the country."

"But we don't want that extra truck traffic through those five interchanges, through Barrie," Clarke added. "We're trying to keep the development to the south."

That's an argument Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw has been making since this process started, suggesting increased vehicular traffic on the two-lane Hwy. 11 would not be wise.

"It's not about Oro-Medone; it's not about Barrie; it's not about Springwater," Greenlaw said. "It's about how can we collectively come to a sustainable solution that benefits everyone."

Greenlaw has many questions following the report's publication, including the data it cites for how much land Barrie could potentially need for residential and associated employment purposes. He argues that the land it says Barrie needs is based on unrealistic housing targets, saying he wants to see a plan for how Barrie could improve its current shortfall of housing starts.

The City of Barrie has committed to 2500 new housing starts annually, but is approximately 1800 short right now.

“Aggressive targets have a solution, then they have a schedule they can find to get them there," Greenlaw said. "An unrealistic target or a fantasy is a totally different bag of nuts and bolts. So I would I would need to see how they plan to get to where they need to be from where they are currently."

Over the summer a provincial mediator was appointed to help facilitate the discussions. Premier Doug Ford has publicly backed Barrie's expansion plans, calling them a "phenomenal deal." Those comments were made prior to the report being publicized.

Nuttall was recently pressed about his position while at an unrelated press conference at Queen's Park earlier this month. 

"We think the Hemson report speaks for itself and would encourage everyone to review the report in terms of the identified need for land in Barrie," Nuttall said in a statement to CTV News Wednesday. "We would like to wish the Warden, the County and townships a Merry Christmas and safe holidays. We look forward to continuing to partner in the new year to create much needed jobs and build housing in the Greater Barrie Area."

All parties are expected to meet with the provincial mediator in the coming days. Clarke hopes these discussions will bring all sides together.

"We should be at the table having those negotiations and with no disrespect, that's not supposed to be a negotiation done through the media either," Clarke said.

With files from CTV's Christian D'Avino and CTV's Kim Phillips