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'They failed to meet this test:' Housing minister winding back Barrie official plan amendments

Move comes following backlash over provincial handling of Greenbelt lands

Simcoe.com
Oct. 25, 2023
Brett Glover

It might be back to the drawing board for a City of Barrie document that aims to guide the municipality's growth for years to come, after a review from the recently shaken-up housing ministry.

MPP Paul Calandra, who was sworn in as minister of municipal affairs and housing in September, announced on Oct. 23 that his ministry is rolling back approval on official plans for 10 municipal governments, including the City of Barrie.

Barrie's official plan, updated and approved by a previous housing minister on April 11 of this year, is an overarching document that guides the city's growth over the coming decades, according to Barrie's director of development services, Michelle Banfield.

"This new official plan provided the community framework to guide development in the city to the year 2051 and complied with the province’s growth plan in effect at that time," she said via email.

The revised plan contained a softening of language in the document from "shall" or "will" to "should" and "may," setting affordable housing targets in Barrie's urban growth centre, and establishing a settlement area boundary expansion, with 73 modifications made in total.

However, Minister Calandra says a review of past decisions has him planning to introduce legislation that would reverse the official plan decisions of the following municipalities:

The proposed legislation, if approved, would wind back provincial changes to official plans and their amendments, with consideration given for any project that has already begun or would otherwise contravene existing provincial legislation or regulations if halted.

Calandra says the review was a priority of his since being given the housing portfolio, saying he wanted to ensure approvals were given in a way that maintained and reinforced public trust.

"In reviewing how decisions were made regarding official plans, it is now clear that they failed to meet this test," he said in a statement emailed to Simcoe.com.

Calandra was made housing minister following the resignation of the previous minister, Steve Clark, along with his chief of staff.

The pair stepped down following significant backlash over the provincial government's handling of 7,400 acres of Greenbelt land, earmarking it for development before backpedaling on the decision, after an auditor general's report indicated the government "favoured certain developers" in their decision-making.

Following Calandra's rollback announcement, Banfield told Simcoe.com the previous minister's revisions to the city's plan were considered to be relatively minor.

"Since April, (the city) has used this document as a foundation for council decisions on development applications and the work staff have been doing on a new city-wide comprehensive zoning bylaw. With respect to the urban boundary in the City of Barrie’s Official Plan, there were no modifications made by the minister," she commented.

Affected municipalities have 45 days to submit changes and updates to their official plans to the ministry, which should include information on projects already underway.

Banfield says they've already got a few things in mind.

"The city may provide the minister with modifications to the Official Plan to address the lack of serviced employment lands within the city’s current boundary and to more aggressively target specific areas in the city for additional growth and intensification for his consideration to get more homes, built faster," she concluded.