‘It’s busting at the seams with townhomes’: South-end Barrie neighbours stand against potential 104-unit development

Michelle Lackey may lose her home’s biggest selling feature.

The Barrie resident moved into her Loon Avenue dream house in June. The backyard has a pool and it overlooks part of a large wooded area, which is connected to the Lovers Creek ravine. But shortly after closing the purchase and moving in, she found out neighbours had received notice of a public meeting for a proposed 104-unit development, which could be built five metres from the back of their property lines, just weeks earlier.

Lackey says she didn’t know about the proposal and any development on the land would be “devastating” to residents and “costly” to her property value.

“If this development happens, it’s opening a huge can of worms,” she said. “I never thought we’d be backing onto more houses, given it’s a wetland. That’s a big disappointment. We didn’t think it was even possible, but they’ve found a small piece of land they feel they can develop on. It just seems the developers are cramming. It’s busting at the seams with townhomes, leaving no buffer between us and the road that’s going to go right through our backyard. If we’d have known, we’d have backed out of that deal. This is why we moved into this house, because it backed onto this beautiful forest. It’s a huge shock.”

That public meeting for the proposal was held in mid-September. MHBC Planning has submitted an application for Official Plan and zoning bylaw amendments that, if approved, would allow for the construction of 12 traditional and 92 stacked townhouses on three of the site’s 15.3 acres.

MHBC partner Eldon Theodore says preliminary community consultation began about a year ago.

“The lands are a combination of both environmental-protection area and general industrial in the Official Plan; general industrial permits a broad range of manufacturing, processing and servicing,” he said, noting the amendments would actually add environmental protection to land in the southern portion of the site. “The residential on the property would allow for uses that are more compatible with the existing residential to the north. Three consecutive city reports have recommended these lands be converted to residential.”

This proposal also includes 35 at-grade and 127 underground parking spaces, and a trail is slated to run along the natural space, he said.

However, Lackey worries this project could lead to further development of sensitive land in the area. And there are also concerns over additional noise and traffic.

“It’s a sensitive area,” she said. “We just don’t understand how this could even be happening back there. We just hope the city of Barrie is looking at the bigger picture. Why not preserve this beautiful area?”

Lackey and several other residents are spearheading a petition over the matter. So far, nearly 3,700 people have signed it.

The proposal could be reviewed by the city’s general committee later this year.

To see the petition, visit . More details on the development are available at .