City councillors will consider scheduling a public meeting to consider new policies on the design of tall buildings in the Urban Growth Centre

MARK WANZEL PHOTO

How high is high enough in Barrie’s core?

On Monday, city councillors will consider scheduling a public meeting to consider new policies on the design of tall buildings in the Urban Growth Centre, which takes in most of Ward 2.

Buildings as high as 15 storeys are allowed there now, but that might not be high enough.

Coun. Barry Ward says that limit, which dates back to 1989, might no longer reflect reality.

“I think there was some frustration among council that the current height bylaws are unrealistic, especially with Barrie’s city centre being designated an Urban Growth Centre by the province, meaning we will be trying to encourage more residential and office growth in the downtown,” he said.

Ward noted city staff indicate that virtually every major condominium project in the city centre has been granted an exception to the height bylaw: Grand Harbour, Waterview, Nautica, Watercrest, Bayshore Landing and Marina Bay I and II.

These buildings exceed the height bylaw, anywhere from five metres in Marina Bay’s case to 18 metres, or about six storeys, in Bayshore Landing’s case.

“I guess the question is, if we’re giving exemptions out all the time, why not just recognize the fact there is a demand for taller buildings and adjust the bylaw?” Ward asked.

He says part of city staff’s answer is that the current height bylaw gives council more control over the design of the buildings.

For example, the city got greater setbacks above the fifth floor for the new Watercrest building on Maple Avenue, resulting in a more attractive building and one which casts a smaller shadow.

“I’m not sure that is a good enough answer politically,” Ward said.

“Residents sometimes view the height restrictions as though they were brought down from the mountain by Moses.”

He said many of the residents in Bayshore Landing, which got an exemption from the height bylaw, told council they didn’t want the new building across from them to be any taller than the 10 storeys set out in the bylaw.

“They think they are hard and fast rules when, in reality, they are treated as guidelines,” Ward said. “You are restricted to a 10-storey building, but we’ll give you a 15-storey building if you make it look nice.

“If we’re going to stick to the current height bylaw, I think we need to be honest with our residents and tell them a 10-storey limit isn’t really a limit at all, so they aren’t surprised when a taller building goes up.”

Ward says the advantages of taller buildings include greater densities to support transit, protection of farmland and open space, and higher tax revenue to the city.

“But we must be careful to minimize the disadvantages, such as shadows, when permitting them,” he said.

Barrie began experiencing tremendous population growth pressures in the late 1980s; this included proposals for several high-rise developments, ranging from 10 to 19 storeys — which were well above the the downtown’s three-storey tradition.

At the time, no Official Plan policy or zoning bylaw standards regulated height within the waterfront areas of what’s now the Urban Growth Centre.

A height review study in 1989 helped establish height controls and building standards for development in this area.

Bob Bruton

Bus Station Makeover - Barrie to look at ways to turn station into a market building

Plans are moving ahead to convert Barrie's downtown bus station into a market building. MARK WANZEL/BARRIE EXAMINER/QMI AGENCY

Gears are turning to convert Barrie's downtown bus station into a market building.

City councillors will discuss asking staff to look into a feasibility study for the conversion, including possible funding sources for the report.

It's an item for discussion at Monday's meeting, coming from Couns. Barry Ward and Lynne Strachan.

Ward says there hasn't been much movement on the issue lately.

“So Coun. Strachan and I thought we should get the ball rolling, at least in terms of seeing if a market building is an idea we want to pursue,” he said.

Ward noted the city's new transit plan comes into effect Aug. 17, which means there will be fewer city buses using the Maple Avenue bus terminal.

“I'm not sure where plans are for intercity buses, but GO is already using platforms at the Allandale Waterfront Station,” he said.

Ward said a feasibility study would determine if a market building would work and look into possible operating models and funding.

“It could be operated privately, through a non-profit agency or by the city,” he said. “It may not cost taxpayers much or at all.”

Ward says he recently toured a waterfront development in north Vancouver, which is converting a former shipyard into a market and community activity centre.

“(This) is costing taxpayers nothing, apart from some government funding for site cleanup,” he said. “It is being paid for entirely by developers around the site. I'm not saying that is the model we need to follow but it does show the possibilities.”

Ward says he sees a downtown Barrie market building similar to the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, where there are food and craft vendors, perhaps some local restaurants and cafes.

“There would be regular community activities, musicians and more, in general a community gathering spot,” he said.

It would be open several days a week, at the least, perhaps expanding to full-time, Ward said.

“It was be nice if the Barrie Farmers' Market decided to take part, but that will be their decision to make,” Ward said.

The Barrie Farmers' Market currently operates at Barrie City Hall, in the Circle At The Centre courtyard in warm weather, in the Rotunda during cold or inclement weather.

The idea for a market building comes from Mayor Jeff Lehman, who was a city councillor running for mayor in October of 2010 when he introduced it.

Lehman has said a food market there would be a better economic driver for the downtown than a bus station, it would encourage tourism and reinvestment in the core. He noted the potential exists for a residential area, probably not more than 60 units, north of a market building.

It wouldn't take much to convert the bus station into a market; the platforms could be used for the market in summer, and moved inside at other times.

Lehman has said he would like to relocate the bus station to the Highway 400, Essa Road area, although Barrie Transit could continue to have bus platforms near the new market building to bring people there and downtown.

A new bus terminal wouldn't have to be much more than platforms, shelter and a place to buy tickets.

The downtown bus station currently acts as a hub for Barrie Transit, with many routes going, and stopping, there before travelling elsewhere.

But all of that changes in August.

Barrie's new bus system will serve multiple transit hubs, at major destinations, in different parts of the city. Routes will double up on major roads, so there will be 15-minute service on many of Barrie's busiest streets, instead of the 30-minute service today.

The hubs will be at Georgian Mall, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, Georgian College, the downtown Barrie Transit Terminal, Allandale Waterfront GO Station, Holly Community Centre, Park Place and South Barrie GO Station.

Barrie Transit's existing 21 routes will be replaced with 10 more efficient ones.

Getting to GO trains will also be easier, with eight of the 10 new routes directly serving Barrie's two GO Transit rail stations. And from June 29 until Sept. 2, Barrie will have weekend GO train service - with four trains running to Toronto and four coming back to Barrie, each Saturday and Sunday.

Source: Bob Bruton/Barrie Examiner

The ‘new urbanism’ a tough sell in Barrie - Mayor Jeff Interviewed

Barrie is hardly the first place you would go to see the new urbanism that is sweeping North American cities. The bedroom community of 140,000 an hour’s drive up the 400 highway from Toronto is about as suburban as you can get, with vast tracts of subdivisions, malls and business parks.

Like many Ontario cities, though, Barrie is changing. The provincial government’s growth plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe requires all municipalities above a certain size to ensure that 40 per cent of residential growth takes place within built-up areas from 2015 on. The idea is to combat, even reverse, decades of sprawl and concentrate development around dense urban hubs.

For a place like Barrie, it is a tall order. Yet under its energetic freshman mayor, Jeff Lehman, 37, the city is embracing the challenge. It expects to see its population grow by 70,000 over the next 20 years. Instead of gobbling up more farmland, it wants to channel half of that growth into the existing urban area. “That’s a sea change for us,” says Mr. Lehman.

The city’s urban plan aims to encourage developers to build in the horseshoe-shaped city centre surrounding Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. It wants to see them build apartment blocks, condos and townhouses in key areas, especially around “transit nodes” such as the city’s two GO stations. If developers build subdivisions outside the centre, the city wants them to make room for village squares, small parks and nearby shops so residents don’t have to jump in the car to do everything.

To further reduce reliance on the car, Mr. Lehman wants to remake the inefficient old transit system, which sends buses out from a central terminal in a flower-petal pattern. A new bus-route network will criss-cross the city so that commuters can get around the urban area instead of just in and out of downtown. Authorities plan to run buses every 15 minutes on main routes instead of every half hour and keep buses running later into the evening. The city is even planning a network of bike paths.

Mr. Lehman is the first to admit that new urbanism is sometimes a hard sell in a city where nine out of 10 residents still use a car to get around. But on a walk around downtown, he points out some encouraging signs of change.

Right across from his city hall office, a developer is building an eight-storey office block, the first on such a scale in two decades. Buyers lined up around the corner when the attached condominiums went on sale. More condos and apartments are planned or under construction down on the waterfront, including Harmony Village, a complex of townhouses and residential towers with a distinctly urban look.

Back of the waterfront in the historic downtown, the city has been fostering a cultural hub. The city already has an attractive modern art gallery, the MacLaren Art Centre, and a 200-seat theatre with two active troupes, one Shakespearean, one avant garde.

There is good eating, too. Mr. Lehman boasts that Barrie has no less than 65 independently owned restaurants and an array of bars and pubs that keep the main streets humming into the small hours. Downtown vacancies, a problem for many small or mid-sized cities, are down to seven out of 150 storefronts from 25 out of 150 three years ago.

Not all the city’s efforts have been a success. Redevelopment of the restored old train station has stalled. No developer has moved in to build on the vacant lot left by a downtown blaze either, leaving a glaring gap in the streetscape. When the city built widened plank sidewalks on one downtown street to make room for restaurant patios, many residents complained about the lost parking spaces.

This, after all, is still Barrie. Mr. Lehman knows that. He isn’t out to turn it into Paris on Lake Simcoe. “Suburbs are not evil,” says Mr. Lehman. “What we are trying to recognize here is that there have been things we have lost along the way in designing suburbs that we need not have lost.”

By adopting a denser, more urban form where it can, Barrie hopes to master a difficult trick: growth without sprawl. Mayors around Ontario should be watching. If Barrie can do it, any city can.

Pedestrian walk on a a wooden boardwalk past a host of new shops and restaurants, including poutine, raw organic, gastronomie, indian, middle eastern, and Italian to name a few, are evident on Dunlop street in downtown Barrie on April 19, 2013. Source -- Global Mail

Office Space Vacancy: Numbers a good economic indicator, expert says

Barrie’s office space vacancy rate is on the rise.

Figures from the last quarter of 2012 show empty office space at almost 7.65%, compared to nearly 6.9% in the second quarter and 6.6% in last year’s first quarter.

Broker Linda Loftus, of Sutton Group Incentive Realty, prepared the report and says it shows who has the upper-hand in this marketplace. 

“The message is more for tenants. It’s a tenant’s market,” she said. “You can drive a pretty good deal.”

Loftus says these numbers show a trend.

“Rents are being driven down by oversupply and increases in operating expenses,” she said. “In many cases operating expenses are exceeding or equal to rent.”

Loftus says operating costs float and are adjusted annually, but any underestimations can be recovered from tenants.

She says for markets like Barrie, office inventory can be an important economic indicator.

“You need to analyze where the new vacancies are coming from and why,” Loftus said.

A higher office vacancy rate could mean new landlords, for example, might be more aggressive with renewals — forcing tenants to review their options, she said.

Or tenants could decide it’s better to own property because of lower interest rates.

Hany Kirolos, Barrie’s economic development director, says its office space vacancy rate can be taken two ways as an indicator.

“One, we have a challenge because of the high vacancies which may reduce new development, and two, is the reverse,” he said.

“(It) provides for good inventory that can be a plug and play for those that may need to relocate to Barrie quickly.”

Loftus says office inventory is also an economic indicator if it’s a result of company closings, directly or indirectly.

She says when office inventory increases, it’s an opportunity for business to expand — because of the cost advantage.

“Landlords offer more and take less when looking for new tenants, or renewals,” she said.

Loftus says that while landlords and tenants should be aware of office inventory, not all are and they don’t always monitor the markets.

“Since the majority of office buildings are owned (some partially) or managed by companies that have principles as realtors, it is not information that would be shared with prospective tenants — as it would disadvantage earnings,” she said.

“Most corporate clients are aware of these blurred loyalties and will generally engage a real estate firm to represent their interests by surveying the market, making recommendations and negotiating an acceptable lease agreement.”

Kirolos says his office does look at ways to reduce Barrie’s office space vacancy rate.

“(The) biggest two factors that have always been in play are, one, ensuring that we’re maintaining investment attraction and relocation activities to our best prospects in southern Ontario and beyond,” he said, “and two, synchronizing our attraction activities with those that hold the lands/vacancies and their brokers.”

The survey includes ‘Class A’ office product, which Loftus says is a very loose definition in Barrie but generally means high-rise or multi-storey and/or elevator accessed.

‘Class B’ means flexible industrial properties, as well as home conversions to office, while ‘Class C’ is second storey downtown and excess office space in industrial buildings.

Loftus says all figures gathered in her report are from the Barrie Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. They come from 29 city properties on Bayfield Street, Bayview Drive, Bell Farm Road, Collier Street, Cundles Road, Dunlop Street East, Essa Road, Ferris Lane, High Street, Huronia Road, Lakeshore Drive, Penetang Street, Quarry Ridge Road, Simcoe Street, Sperling Drive and Wellington Street.

Her report details each building’s total area, vacancy, condition of available space, the rent being asked for, operating costs and taxes, parking, neighbours and even whether there are elevators and sprinkler systems.

(photo: The amount of vacant office space appears to be growing in Barrie, according to a recent report. Figures from the last quarter show empty office space at 7.65%, compared to nearly 6.9% in the second quarter. MARK WANZEL PHOTO