City pushing for cash to fund bigger Barrie
Posted By BOB BRUTON
Posted 2 months ago
It's one thing for Barrie to absorb Innisfil land, quite another to provide services there and pay the bills.
So far, the city is on its own for servicing costs toward the provincially mandated transfer of 5,664 acres on Jan. 1, 2010. Existing city wards 7, 8, 9 and 10 will be extended to include the new Innisfil land.
Barrie's funding request to Ontario's ministry of energy and infrastructure has, so far, gone unanswered.
"Yes, we are pushing for funding," said Coun. Jeff Lehman, point man for Barrie's boundary expansion committee. "The province's vision for slower growth and less sprawl is one that we agree with, but it comes with some costs."
"As the urban growth centre for Simcoe County, we will require infrastructure dollars to make the vision a reality," said Richard Forward, the city's general manager of infrastructure, development and culture.
He says it's too early to say how much it will cost to service this land, but expects that significant investment will be required to provide services.
"Much of the cost to service the lands will be recoverable by development charges, but some will not be growth-recoverable," Forward said.
Which means that unless the province comes through with funding, it will fall to city taxpayers and businesses, or existing reserve funds created from similar revenue sources.
Who pays could also affect the timing of these services.
"My view is that we need to build city services at the same time that we build new industrial areas and new neighbourhoods, not many years later," said Lehman.
"This requires funding and although much of it comes from development charges, if we are to protect the lake and create 'complete' communities, we will need the province to help with funding these shared priorities."
There is precedent for such infrastructure funding from Queen's Park.
Included in the 1981 Barrie Innisfil Annexation Act was a deal to provide Barrie with $24 million of provincial money for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements for the annexed lands.
Forward says there are a number of technical studies - including, transportation, water and wastewater, watershed science and natural heritage -that need to be done to assess servicing options and costs.
There are also a number of land-use planning studies that will need to be competed, including land budget, employment land market assessment, population and employment projections, retail commercial, heritage and an archaeological review, that will need to be completed in order to establish the constraints and opportunities that will inform the secondary planning process.
"Ultimately, the planning and technical studies . . . are required to get to the secondary planning stage and the approval of Official Plan amendments," Forward said. "The amount of servicing costs that are recoverable (from development charges) are a function of who benefits by the services and the extent of the services."
Barrie has addressed several transition matters for the new land, such as how emergency services, winter control, garbage pickup and storm water management will work.
Staff are preparing a report for council with a recommended growth management program for the annexed lands.
The Barrie-Innisfil Boundary Adjustment Act, Bill 196, has passed second reading in the Ontario legislature.
Third and final reading is expected before MPPs conclude their fall session at Queen's Park.
bbruton@thebarrieexaminer.com
