UPDATE: Location Chosen For First Responders’ Campus

AUGUST 21

The City of Barrie and County of Simcoe have announced a Fairview Road location for the new Barrie-Simcoe Emergency Services Campus. It will house Barrie Police, Barrie Fire and Simcoe County Paramedic Services. Construction of phase one is expected to begin next year.

JULY 24

Barrie has given the green light to a multi-million dollar emergency services facility, after a real belt tightening exercise. At a special summer meeting, city council approved the Barrie Simcoe Emergency Services Campus after trimming back its cost to build by 20 million dollars. The biggest savings came as Councillor Mike McCann put forward the motion to axe an entire structure from the proposed three-building campus. A “Building B” that was to house police and fire training facilities was cut to bring down the price tag. City staff cautioned that if council wanted to go ahead with Building B at a later date, the cost to build could go up. The shared use facility is to house Barrie’s Fire and Police Services, in addition to Simcoe County Paramedics and is expected to be completed by 2020. The finished product should cost just under $103 million to build, while no taxpayer dollars will go towards covering that cost.