Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra has granted a minister's zoning order that could help speed up the development of an elderly care and residential complex in Barrie.
The new minister's zoning order (MZO) is just the second he's issued under a new process he promised after Premier Doug Ford moved him into the cabinet position last year.
MZOs are a tool most often issued by Ontario's housing minister to help expedite development projects. An MZO overrules municipal planning decisions, rules, or limits. Municipalities can also request them to enable, or speed up, certain projects, as Barrie's council did last fall for a multi-purpose development including hundreds of new apartments, a long-term care facility, and a pair of assisted-living and retirement facilities.
Ontario's former long-term care minister, Stan Cho, also asked for an MZO for the project, according to a posting from Calandra's ministry.
Daniel Strauss, spokesperson for Long-Term Care Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, said in an email that the 192 long-term care beds included in the project would "help accommodate the growing population of York Region."
The proposed project the MZO is set to facilitate would cover 10 acres of land at 800 Yonge St. across the street from the Barrie South GO Station. Along with a 192-bed, six-storey long-term care facility, the project is also set to include two up-to 26-storey apartments with up to 360 residential units, and two assisted-living and retirement homes including 485 suites and 120 dwelling units in their 12 stories. Hundreds of parking spots and a small area of park space are also planned.
The area it's planned in is a part of southeast Barrie where various development proposals are in the works. The same development company behind the 800 Yonge St. project is behind the Yonge GO Village proposal, an ongoing project among a few collectively proposing thousands of new homes, retail, and commercial space near the Barrie South GO Station.
Last August, around when Barrie's council was discussing requesting the province issue an MZO for the 800 Yonge St. project, Mayor Alex Nuttall said it was "being rushed" because "obviously we're in need of more long-term care beds here in the city."
"We thought it was necessary to work with the province on this and pass it back to them to accelerate it, and then they can make the decision on it," said Nuttall, according to a Barrie Today story on Aug. 11, 2023.
Last October, there were 10 long-term care homes in operation in Barrie, according to a list published by the Ministry of Health. Altogether, they include 1,169 beds, according to information on the government's website. As of May 31, the average length of a wait list for entry to a long-term care home in Barrie was 437 spots long.
Schlegel Villages — which plans to operate the planned long-term care facility at 800 Yonge St. — is the licensee of the 112-bed Coleman Care Centre, one of the five for-profit homes currently operating in Barrie. The proposed 192-bed long-term care home would be the largest in Barrie. The Trillium emailed Schlegel Villages on Tuesday requesting its comment on the MZO but didn't receive a response before publication of this story.
The Ford government issued more than 100 MZOs over its first five years in power, which was more than all of its predecessor governments combined. Late last year, a few months after Ford appointed him municipal affairs and housing minister, Calandra announced a new process for granting them. The only previous MZO that Calandra's issued under the new process was a couple of weeks ago for a proposed emergency housing shelter in Newmarket.
Calandra also revoked six MZOs previously issued by the Ford government in April.
The proposed 800 Yonge St. project in Barrie aligns with a few different Ford government priorities, including the construction of new residential housing and long-term care homes, and a focus on encouraging development near transit hubs.
"Our government is committed to building Ontario’s long-term care capacity, and we welcome the minister of municipal affairs and housing assistance in building beds faster for the people of Ontario," the long-term care minister's spokesperson added in his email response.
—With files from Bob Bruton of Barrie Today
