(Barrie, ON) – Yesterday, Mayor Nuttall submitted the City of Barrie’s recommendations on the Official Plan to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The City’s submission includes feedback received from the public by email and at a Town Hall meeting on November 22, 2023.
“After extensive consultation with the public, we heard that protecting the environment, Lake Simcoe and supporting the creation of new affordable housing in Barrie are critical priorities for our community,” said Mayor Nuttall. “These themes were heard loud and clear during our community engagement. These matters are important to our community, and they are important to me. They should be important to the Province as well and as such, I want these policies reverted in the Official Plan back to the stronger language that Council originally adopted.”
The City’s submission is available at barrie.ca/OfficialPlan.
The Official Plan is a general policy document that establishes a long-range planning blueprint for land uses and resource management within the municipality.
The Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing approved the City of Barrie's Official Plan, with 73 modifications, on April 11, 2023. The 73 modifications to the Official Plan policies and maps were made to address provincial policy direction related to land use compatibility, source water protection, and government priorities related to housing and streamlining the development process, among other matters, including site specific changes.
On October 23, the new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra announced that he would be reviewing the changes to official plans made by the previous minister. The Minister provided impacted municipalities 45 days to submit changes and updates to those plans to the ministry.
To learn more and to download the current Official Plan, visit barrie.ca/OfficialPlan.
To see the Minister’s approval document, visit https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-5530