Transforming Barrie: corridors intensification

NRU
June 10, 2015
By Edward LaRusic

Barrie is proposing to transform its intensification corridors into vibrant, pedestrian-orientated landscapes to help accommodate its anticipated growth. Corridor-specific prezoning will help ensure the standards reflect the character of each neighbourhood.

In the process of creating a new zoning category for its intensification corridors, Barrie planning staff is proposing to permit mixed-use development with heights of up to eight storeys. Historically these corridors have tended to feature single-family homes on large lots, and what commercial there is tends to be found in large one- and two-storey buildings with generous setbacks from the road.

Barrie mayor Jeff Lehman told NRU that with secondary plans for Barrie’s two growth areas under appeal at the Ontario Municipal Board, developers have been turning their attention to the city’s six intensification corridors - Bayfield Street, Codrington Street, Duckworth Street, Dunlop Street West, Essa Road and Yonge Street.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in intensification applications, including on some of these corridors. The Essa Road corridor alone probably has four or five that are in the approval stage somewhere, and there’s been five or six approved in the last two years. If somebody ran the numbers on how many applications we’re getting for intensification, I think they would find that for a city our size, it’s very high.”

With the city expected to grow from about 136,000 to 210,000 residents by 2031, the proposed mixed-use zoning is intended to help accommodate a portion of that growth along the intensification corridors. Here residential buildings would be permitted up to a maximum of five storeys, while buildings with ground-floor commercial or institutional uses would be permitted up to eight storeys. The by-law would also dictate that development would have a minimal setback from the street, as well as angular planes and setbacks to mitigate the transition to low-rise residential that will often be located behind the corridors.

Planning director Stephen Naylor said the intent of the new zoning by-law is to offer developers guidance on what the city envisions as appropriate intensification in these corridors. Once it is in place, staff propose is to fi ne-tune the standards for each corridor to best reflect the character of the area. Naylor said this process could take a year or two for each corridor.

“These lands are not zoned today for intensification. If we left them the way they are, then people wouldn’t know what exactly the city was looking for. They could come in and say ‘heck this is an intensification corridor. We want to go to 20 storeys,’” Naylor said.

Staff recommends pre-zoning the corridors on a priority basis with those experiencing the greatest development pressures being completed first. On this basis Essa Road would be the first corridor to be pre-zoned.

Resident and urban planner Celeste Phillips (Celeste Phillips Planning Inc.) is publically critical of Barrie’s plan to intensify its corridors. She told NRU that the city needs to take a less aggressive approach to intensification, that there isn’t a good rationale for permitting six to eight storeys. While she said some areas may be appropriate locations for buildings up to eight storeys, others would not.

“The definition of intensification in the [Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe] is anything more than what is already there. If you take a single-family dwelling and put in a duplex, triplex or townhouse, that would be intensification. But city staff is recommended five- to eight- storey buildings across the board. I just have some concerns that [staff is] not being very careful [to] look at the different neighbourhoods and what the impact of the height of such buildings would be on adjacent homes.”

Naylor said that the justification relates to the location and attributes of the corridors. The heights were determined through a 2009 intensification study undertaken by staff and 2013 urban design guidelines for its intensification areas prepared by consultant Brook McIlroy.

“Would we agree that a five-to-eight-storey building is appropriate [on a particular site]? Maybe or maybe not. But it could very well be appropriate in 75-80 per cent of the other places,” said Naylor. Site specific issues, such as grading, can be addressed through site plan control.

While there may be a risk that developers are unable to find tenants for their ground-floor commercial units, Naylor said that allowing the higher densities along these corridors will increase their commercial viability. It is up to the individual developer to determine whether it’s worth it to put in the ground-floor commercial.

The city implemented a new mixed-use designation for specific nodes along the intensification corridors at its March 30 council meeting.