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Innisfil, Essa respond to calls that Barrie look south, west for more land

'While we understand that growth is a priority for all municipalities, Innisfil has growth plans in place and is well positioned for the future,' says town's mayor

For the Town of Innisfil and Township of Essa, the line in the dirt is drawn at the City of Barrie's southern and western borders.

Last week, Barrie councillors Clare Riepma and Amy Courser suggested a study on city boundary expansion should also explore land in Innisfil and Essa.

Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin disagrees.

“The Town of Innisfil has become a very desirable place to work and live and we continue to grow with new homes, expanding services and attracting businesses to the area,” Dollin said. “While we understand that growth is a priority for all municipalities, Innisfil has growth plans in place and is well positioned for the future.”

Essa Mayor Sandie Macdonald echoed Dollin's sentiments by paraphrasing Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall, whom she says has “summed (the issue) up quite nicely.”

“Essa will continue to be a good neighbour,” she said. 

The councillors’ comments were made during a city council meeting Wednesday night, where council voted to retain Hemson Consulting to work with the city and a provincial facilitator to build upon the initial findings of a joint land needs analysis, identifying and accurately describing land in Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships, to meet Barrie’s perceived needs.

“It seems to me if we are serious about finding the best, the most appropriate, the best serviced … land, we should be looking all the way around the city, not only in just two municipalities, but also in Essa and Innisfil,” Riepma said. “I’m sure we’re just making two more enemies.

“We are just tying our hands needlessly and precluding good planning," he added.

Courser said it would be “good to look at 360 (degrees) around the city, to look at different areas.”

But their comments reopen old wounds. Barrie annexed around 5,600 acres from Innisfil on Jan. 1, 2010 — however, the multi-year fight that precluded the enactment of the Ontario government's Barrie-Innisfil Boundary Adjustment Act heightened tensions between the municipalities for years. 

Hemson’s work would further assess the city’s infrastructure and servicing capacity to support 930 developable hectares, or 2,297 acres.

Once this work is complete, city staff would report back to Barrie councillors about additional studies and work phases.

Barrie’s initial land-request proposal to Oro-Medonte was for 772 hectares (almost 1,908 acres). 

But Barrie has also targeted three parcels of land in Springwater for boundary expansion, totalling 1,324 hectares, or almost 3,272 acres.

— With files from Bob Bruton and Wayne Doyle



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