Johnson Street High Rise Scaled Back
Proposed Development Would Add To Already Densely Populated Area
City Hall is scaling back a proposed high rise. After lengthy debate at Barrie City Hall Monday night, a proposed 11-storey apartment complex has been limited to 150 units per hectare, instead of the 290 apartments the developer asked for in a rezoning application. Councillor Bonnie Ainsworth was the one who proposed the project be trimmed down, citing the opposition she had heard from local residents that the area is densely populated enough. She calls the 290-unit proposal “dangerous” for the area.
The apartment would be built on Johnson Street just south of Blake, right next to an existing 11-storey apartment building, and a few other rental properties, something Ainsworth says is already taxing the area.
She adds, just because the area is home to one high rise, doesn’t make it right.
Only one councillor opposed the scaling back, Ward 10’s Mike McCann. The Monday evening decision is expected to be rubberstamped at next week’s meeting. If ratified, the developer may take the project back to the drawing board for a redesign, keeping it within the current zoning requirements.
