Rebuffed by Springwater Township council last week when he presented an updated boundary expansion proposal, Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall is taking another kick at the can, this time in Oro-Medonte Township.
While he won’t be presenting anything in person, Nuttall sent the members of Oro-Medonte council a letter dated May 13 detailing a proposal he made to Oro-Medonte’s mayor, deputy mayor and chief administrative officer May 12 on behalf of the City of Barrie.
“I wanted to share it with all of you to ensure all information was communicated effectively,” Nuttall wrote in the letter to Oro-Medonte councillors. “The request received by the City of Barrie was to provide a proposal that mirrored the St. Thomas and Central Elgin agreement.
“After speaking with individuals involved, including elected representatives, we crafted a proposal that is in line with the agreement reached by the City of St. Thomas and the Municipality of Central Elgin," he added.
In that agreement, St. Thomas paid $10 million in an upfront, one-time cash payment and $1 million per year for five years for a total of $15 million.
Additionally, St. Thomas was to provide 2,000 units worth of water/wastewater capacity to convert an area previously used as a health-care centre to residential development.
In exchange, St. Thomas received 2,000 acres of land for development for the Volkswagen electric vehicle (EV) factory.
“This equates to a ratio of 1:1 for acres of land to units of servicing, and a value of $7,500 of cash per acre,” Nuttall wrote.
Additionally, the Province of Ontario and Volkswagen provided St. Thomas with contributions for their water/wastewater capacity.
According to the proposal sent to Oro-Medonte councillors, Barrie is looking at roughly 850 acres of developable land in the township.
“While the specific location of the land for servicing has not yet been determined, I look forward to continuing discussions with Oro-Medonte on this,” Nuttall wrote in an email to BarrieToday on Monday.
The land has an assigned value of $7,500 per acre, per the St. Thomas/Central Elgin deal.
Nuttall said Barrie is willing to offer the same terms that have been provided to Springwater Township on a pro-rated basis.
According to the proposal, Barrie would pay Oro-Medonte $1.275 million per year for five years for a total cash payment of $6.375 million.
The city would also provide Oro-Medonte with 935 units of water/wastewater capacity for 10 years. It would be implemented on Jan. 1, 2027, to ensure servicing arrangements are in place.
Nuttall said this would yield more than $3.5 million in taxes annually to Oro-Medonte.
Nuttall’s letter to Oro-Medonte council was the latest development in a process that started about 18 months ago, when, on Nov. 6, 2023, he presented to the standing committee on heritage, infrastructure and cultural policy during a meeting in Barrie.
At that time, he provided the committee with an update on Barrie’s housing targets and highlighted why the city requires additional employment land so more residents can have jobs closer to home.
According to Nuttall, the City of Barrie is in dire need of land that would be suitable for large-scale manufacturing and industrial development. He said Barrie needs space to grow as a community and it needs space to bring in jobs from outside the region.
Nuttall said the city was eyeing industrial land outside its municipal borders for the purpose of job creation.
It came to light that Barrie was looking at land in neighbouring Oro-Medonte, near Highway 400 and Highway 11, as well as land in Springwater along the city's western border, near Midhurst and around Little Lake.
Nuttall pitched his case for the city’s boundary adjustment proposal during a presentation to Oro-Medonte council on Nov. 8, 2023.
Following that presentation, Oro-Medonte Township council said it wasn’t comfortable with Barrie’s request.
A week later, on Nov. 15, Springwater council voted unanimously to “terminate discussions" with Barrie.
Last week, Nuttall made the presentation titled ‘Proposed Principles for Boundary Adjustment Agreement, City of Barrie and Township of Springwater’ at Springwater Township’s council meeting. That presentation was also based on the St. Thomas/Central Elgin agreement.
In its pitch to Springwater, Barrie offered to extend municipal water and wastewater service to 453 acres in the township.
In exchange for this servicing, Springwater would transfer 4,373 acres to the city for long-term residential and employment growth. As agreed to in the St. Thomas/Central Elgin agreement, Barrie offered $7,500 per developable acre — of which there are about 1,811 acres.
To sweeten the deal, Barrie included just over $1 million in extras, including parking passes and recreation facilities access, as well as financial support to Springwater so it could hire an economic development resource.
Barrie offered Springwater a one-time cash payment of $6.825 million upon signing, with annual payments of $1 million for five-and-a-half years.
Barrie’s total commitment to Springwater was pegged at approximately $13.6 million.
Barrie city council also meets on Wednesday.
