Another plan for 200C Dock Rd. in Barrie has hit the skids.
City councillors have given initial approval to deny an application to amend the Bayshore Secondary Plan for medium density residential use to permit a 24-unit, 3.5-storey seniors development on the 1.2-acre site.
Joe and Mary Santos, through Innovative Planning Solutions (IPS), had applied for an Official Plan (OP) amendment to change the property's designation from low density residential.
There was no discussion by councillors on the denial.
Area residents have said the proposed use would be out of character with the neighbourhood. There are large residential properties along Plunkett Court.
Losing a mature stand of trees on the property, the building's real height (counting a raised landscape), stormwater management and runoff into Kempenfelt Bay are also concerns.
Coun. Alex Nuttall, who represents this part of Barrie, says the property isn't close enough to public transit and employment, and is an example of a developer just trying to maximize investment.
City planning staff say both the Bayshore Secondary Plan and the City's Intensification Study don't support increased residential density at 200C Dock Rd.
This property has a long history of controversial development plans, and council resistance to them. There have been six public meetings about it.
In 2007, OP and zoning applications were made to permit a medium-density condo project. Their denial was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), then that appeal was withdrawn in order to move ahead with plans for a rest home – which was a permitted use.
In June of 2009, there was a site plan application for a 29-unit rest home. But council changed the city zoning bylaw that same year, removing rest homes as a permitted use in this residential (R1) zone. Council even denied a 24-unit, three-storey walk-up condominium building there.
This was appealed to the OMB, along with the site plan and zoning.
These appeals have been consolidated, but stayed by the developer, pending the OP amendment application.
City planning staff had recommended turning down the plan and rezoning changes because the Dock Road application was inconsistent with the Provincial Policy Statement of 2005 and Barrie's OP, which designates land use.
But the developer contends a higher-density development on 200C Dock Rd. conforms with Places to Grow, a provincial planning policy, and Barrie's intensification proposals.
It also provides for the needs of an aging population, an increasing demographic, in a serene environment bound by parks and Lake Simcoe, says IPS.
Last year, the OMB dismissed an appeal by developer Marandal Enterprises for condominium townhouses on just more than three acres at the northwest corner of Dock and Tynhead roads.
The board said this land was instead appropriate for single-detached homes, and that Marandal's plans for either 28 townhouses or 18 townhouses combined with six single-detached units along Dock Road don't conform with intensification policies in the provincial growth plan on a number of fronts.
Council will consider final approval of its motion to deny the most current application for 200C Dock Rd. at its June 3 meeting.
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