Spring has come and Stan Street has lost his property to a city stormwater project which requires all of his south-end Barrie land.
But the local man says he got close to his price, just more than $1 million, for 7 Brennan Ave., near Lakeshore Drive and Minet's Point Road.
“I miss my place. It was a lovely spot and I’d been there for 40-odd years,” Street, 78, told BarrieToday. “I really enjoyed it and I wouldn’t have moved if the situation hadn’t come up.
“It did and that was it … what could I do? But I’m bearing up.”
The situation was expropriation, which the province generally defines as taking land without the consent of the owner by an expropriating authority, in this case the City of Barrie, in the exercise of its statutory powers.
It never came to that. Street says he and the city finalized the sale May 1. The final price includes about 75 per cent of Street’s legal fees as well.
“We've done the deal and I’m out of there. It’s ended as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I just wanted an end to the whole thing.
“I got the money, it’s in the bank, it’s finalized, it’s done.”
Street said last November the city offered him just more than $700,000 for his Brennan Avenue property, the house and the land, but said he believed $1 million was fair, given that a home in the Minet’s Point neighbourhood sold last year for $1.5 million, he said.
The city pays fair market value for property it acquires, staff have said, as determined by a third-party appraiser and in accordance with the requirements of the Expropriations Act.
Street, a retired school board maintenance supervisor, has had a busy time. In addition to selling his home, his wife passed near the end of last year, he’s had health problems and he’s been living in leased Barrie facilities, although he said he’s thinking of moving closer to family outside the area.
Street has lost both his home to demolition and his 200-by-100-yard property.
This land is needed for what’s called the Whiskey Creek culvert and channel improvements, The Boulevard to Brennan Avenue.
At 199 The Boulevard, the property is about a half acre in size. The Whiskey Creek drainage improvement will result in the loss of land on this property, near the corner of White Oaks Drive and The Boulevard. This will consist of a triangular piece of land 17 metres along The Boulevard, 12 metres by 21 metres.
Barrie infrastructure staff have said the city aims to avoid impacting private property with its projects, but sometimes the impacts are unavoidable. In rare cases, the project involves taking the whole property.
Last October, city council gave final approval to a motion that authorized city lawyers to begin expropriation proceedings, if required, to obtain the property necessary to facilitate the Whiskey Creek project, which involves a portion of 199 The Boulevard and the full acquisition of 7 Brennan Ave.
The lower section of Whiskey Creek, from The Boulevard to Lake Simcoe, has limited stormwater flow capacity and is prone to flooding, according to the city. This project improves Whiskey Creek's conveyance capacity from The Boulevard to Brennan Avenue, to reduce frequency of flooding.
The project is scheduled to be designed in 2024-26 and be in pre-construction in 2027, with anticipated construction 2028-29.
City staff have said alternatives to the drainage improvements to Whiskey Creek were considered through a master plan and an environmental assessment, but the preferred alternative requires the city purchase the impacted property on Brennan Avenue.
The impact on the individual property was considered against the broader benefits of the project that protects people and property from flooding, according to staff.
The first phase of this project is to replace and enlarge two culverts — Whiskey Creek under The Boulevard and Brennan Avenue — with one-in-50-year storm culverts, and upgrade the channel in between the two culverts.
This project does not take private property out of the floodplain, but reduces the frequency and severity of flooding with respect to creek flows. A sidewalk is being built to connect White Oaks Road over the Brennan Avenue culvert to the Minet’s Point Park entrance.
The design increases the size of the culverts to accommodate anticipated flows due to climate change and adds a pedestrian connection from White Oaks Road to Minet’s Point Park.
There will be minimal impacts to nearby Minet’s Point Park and Beach during construction.
The city’s 2024 capital plan says about $11.13 million is to be spent on this project by 2030.
Funding for it comes from the city’s development charges reserves, the tax capital reserve, the tax funded stormwater capital reserve and debentures, which is how municipalities borrow money.
