Council Meeting
Previews & Highlights

Previews and highlights of upcoming and recent City Council and General Committee meetings, posted weekly on Fridays and Tuesdays.

General Committee and City Council meetings air and stream live on Rogers Television. Formal channels to communicate with City Council include Circulation List and Deputations.

HIGHLIGHTS: Council Meeting 
7 p.m. Monday, September 17, 2018

Check out the full agenda at barrie.legistar.com. 

Awards And Recognition

City Council recognized Barrie Fire and Emergency Service, the Ontario Fire Marshal's Public Fire Safety Council and Enbridge Gas Distribution on the 2018 Project Zero Campaign. This project helps improve fire safety in homes, while helping to lower fire and carbon monoxide-related deaths. The overall goal is to reduce the number of deaths to zero. Project Zero provides select fire departments with combination carbon monoxide/smoke alarms, which are distributed to high-risk residents in communities.

A presentation took place to members of Barrie City Council for their support of the 'Zack Makes Tracks' campaign. Zachary Hofer has dedicated time to helping children with mental-health concerns by jogging, biking and scootering 465 kilometres across Ontario, raising money for Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre's new mental-health ward for youths. Hofer, then 13, won the 2017 Barrie Youth Spirit Catcher Award.

City Council recognized the Barrie Soccer Club's under 15 Girls Soccer Team for being inducted into the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame in 2018 and for being the first Youth Soccer Team from Barrie Soccer Club and area to win the Ontario Provincial Cup. 

Naming of Elements Within Memorial Square and Meridian Place (Ward 2)

Barrie City Council gave final approval to name the Community Event Stage within Meridian Place as 'The Wildfire-Peacock Stage' to recognize the Peacock Foundation's sponsorship contribution of $250,000. Also, the western promenade extending from Dunlop Street to Simcoe Street/Heritage Park will be named 'Cullington Way' to recognize Ms. Angela Baldwin and Mr. Mark Jepp's sponsorship contribution of $100,000 and the eastern promenade, also extending from Dunlop Street to Simcoe Street/Heritage Park, will be named 'Pte. Frank Samuel Sivell Way' in recognition of the sponsorship contribution of $100,000 by Mr. Jamie Massie and Mrs. Wendy Massie.

Pte. Sivell was Mr. Massie's grandfather and a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 48th Highlanders. He lost his leg at the hip in the Vimy Ridge battle of the First World War. Mr. Sivell was one of several amputee veterans who worked in the prosthetic department at Christie Street Hospital; each of these veterans built a cottage at Leonard's Beach on a street that became known as Christie Street at the 10th Line of Innisfil.

The Kiwanis Club of Barrie will be recognized with signs in the area of the Nine Mile Portage Tiers to identify the Club's sponsorship contribution of $175,000.

All of these naming agreements will be for 25 years, ending Sept. 30, 2043. Meridian Credit Union Ltd. is the title sponsor for this downtown Barrie redevelopment project, with naming rights for 25 years, for the space stretching from the Memorial Square Cenotaph area to Heritage Park/ Simcoe Street. Its name is Meridian Place. Learn more.

Overnight Parking By-Law To Exempt Parking Christmas Day, Boxing Day And New Year's Day (All Wards)

City council gave final approval to permit overnight parking on City streets Dec. 25, Dec. 26 and Jan. 1 each year, unless a winter maintenance event is declared.

Barrie's parking bylaw prohibits overnight parking during the winter months - including Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day - from midnight until 7 a.m. on all city streets except those in the Downtown Business Improvement Area, where the ban is from 3 a.m. until 6 a.m.

The Christmas season is a time when family and friends gather, often overnight. Provided a winter maintenance event is not declared, this change would mean that alternate parking need not be arranged.

Winter maintenance events can be declared when anticipated weather requires snow plowing, sanding, salting, direct liquid application, snow removal or other winter maintenance operations. These winter maintenance events are communicated via the city's website, barrie.ca, Facebook, Twitter and news media.

When a winter maintenance event is declared, any parking provisions set out in the bylaw are removed and parking is prohibited overnight on Barrie streets. The City is committed to providing a high level of snow removal service throughout the winter season. Learn more.

Zoning By-Law Amendment Application - Barrie Owen Service Inc. - 55-57 McDonald St., 53-59 & 61-67 Owen St.,70-78 Worsley St. (Ward 2)

A rezoning to permit the development of a combination mid- and high-rise building on the east side of Owen Street, north of Worsley Street, was given final approval by Barrie City Council.

Barrie Owen Service Inc. plans to construct a 20 storey mixed-use building on the southern portion of the nearly one-acre site, with retail uses fronting onto Worsley and Owen.

The site's northern portion will have an 8 storey building with 8 townhouses, with a 3 storey podium base, fronting onto McDonald and Owen streets. Parking will be on 2.5 levels of underground spaces and on two levels of the proposed podium. The applicant has not yet determined the proposed development's type of tenure; options include a minimum 289-unit condominium building or a maximum 329-unit rental building.

Barrie Owen Service Inc. is asking for special provisions on this project, including less side-yard setback, more gross floor area, a greater maximum height, less minimum coverage for commercial uses and less minimum landscape buffer area than is required by city bylaws.

The developer will dedicate $475,000 to improvements at the downtown Barrie Public Library ($150,000), along with strategic initiatives and improvements at other parks and public places - such as the nearby Coupe and/or Lions Park, street furnishing improvements in the downtown, developing a strategic Public Art Master Plan and graffiti-resistant public art.

A site plan will also be required from Barrie Owen Service Inc. prior to the development of this site. This application requires the City be provided with a comprehensive understanding of the proposed development and its architecture, landscape and engineering details. Learn more.

Cultural Heritage Strategy (All Wards)

City Council gave final approval for a Cultural Heritage Strategy, designed to protect Barrie's cultural heritage assets.

The Strategy is built around four pillars - Knowing, Protecting, Managing and Communicating - with goals and actions flowing from each of these themes. Public consultation and feedback on the draft Strategy took place last fall during three drop-in sessions, which included comment sheets, and an on-line survey.

City staff also reached out to Indigenous communities to seek their advice and preferences for engagement in the draft Strategy. Barrie's cultural heritage assets can include everything from heritage properties and buildings to walking tours and cultural celebrations such as Heritage Week, Celebrate Barrie and Culture Days.

The Cultural Heritage Strategy is intended to be an initial step toward the continued understanding of the history of Barrie and surrounding area, protecting resources, supporting and encouraging the stewardship and conservation of heritage resources and building public awareness.

Of the four pillars, Knowing is what constitutes heritage resources and why they are valued, Protecting concerns the value of protecting heritage resources, which can be found in a strong sense of community identity and sense of place, Managing stresses that conservation and stewardship are important and there are various ways to achieve these goals, and Communicating concerns awareness and understanding that helps bring heritage into the lives of the community. Learn more.

Barrie Police Services Board Recommendation To Transfer Downtown Barrie Cameras To The City's Information Technology Department

Final approval was given by City Council concerning June 25, 2018 correspondence regarding Barrie Police Services Board's recommendation to transfer the downtown surveillance cameras matter to the City's Information Technology Department for a report back to General Committee before, or as part of, the 2019 Business Plan that outlines potential options related to the request, along with the financial, administrative and operational implications for both the City and Barrie Police Services. This motion was sponsored by Councillor Doug Shipley. Learn more.

Summerset Drive Parking Investigation (Ward 6)

Barrie City Council gave final approval to a parking ban on the north side of Summerset Drive from Ferndale Drive South to Nicholson Drive.

Residents there have expressed concerns about operational and safety issues due to vehicles parked on Summerset's north side; vehicles parked close to driveways impede sight lines, while obstructing vehicles entering and leaving driveways. Vehicles parked on both sides of Summerset reduce its travel width, affecting safety.

The restrictions would prevent vehicles from parking adjacent to residential driveways on the north side of Summerset Drive and ensure there are sufficient sight lines, along with the safe and efficient entrance and exit of driveways.

Summerset Drive is a two-lane collector road with a traffic volume of approximately 3,000 vehicles a day, and with sidewalks on both sides. Overnight on-street parking is prohibited there from Dec. 1 until March 31, midnight to 7 a.m., for winter road maintenance. Learn more.

New Community Garden (Ward 8)

City Council approved Shear Park as the location for Barrie's third community garden. A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people, in this case Barrie residents. The city has two existing community gardens in Sunnidale Park and in Golden Meadows Park. Garden plots are rented at the rate of $20 a year for single plots and $50 a year for double plots. These gardens are consistently fully rented every year.

The Shear Park community garden will be located between its tennis courts and softball field. Shear Park is located at the corner of Innisfil and Holgate streets. Learn more.

Direct Motion

Barrie Baycats Winning Their Fifth Consecutive Intercounty Baseball League Championship

City Council extended congratulations to the Barrie Baycats Baseball Team on winning their fifth consecutive Intercounty Baseball League Championship. The Baycats won their fifth straight IBL title with a 6-3 victory against the Panthers in Kitchener earlier this month. This win gave Barrie a 4-2 victory in the best-of-seven finals. Next year, the Baycats will attempt to become the first team to win six consecutive championships since Brantford did it from 2008 until 2013. The direct motion to congratulate the Baycats was moved by Mayor Jeff Lehman and seconded by Councillor Bonnie Ainsworth.