Last year, the City of Barrie began planning for the redevelopment of Bradford Street. It will be converted into a multi-modal corridor to meet the needs of a rapidly growing city. Last week, residents had the opportunity to view the final design concept and provide feedback.

The new corridor will feature bike tracks for all ages and wider sidewalks for improved safety. Additionally, the street has been future-proofed for active travel, with the possibility to convert outside lanes into on-street parking, electric vehicle charging stations, or an expanded flexible public space.

The initial feedback from the residents is that it should have an urban look and feel, making it a destination for all Barrie residents.

The City has identified key strategic priorities to create walkable and diverse neighbourhoods that encourage community connections, a safe and welcoming downtown, and improved mobility options. These priorities are reflected in the Official Plan guiding principles, which seek to create healthy and complete communities, design excellence, connectivity and mobility, green and resilient initiatives, and economic prosperity and growth.

An impact assessment will be completed on the design plan to consider potential impacts to socio-economic, cultural heritage, and natural environments, as well as potential mitigation measures. For properties that will be redeveloped in the project area, the City will require the developer to convey the identified right-of-way requirements as a condition of development approval; for properties that will not be redeveloped, the City will purchase the required property at fair market value.

The City will then review feedback from the agencies, Indigenous Nations, and the public, refine the design concept, complete the final impact assessment, document study findings, and prepare a staff report for Council. After Council endorsement, a Notice of Study Completion will be advertised initiating a 30-day public review period. Though the shelf-life of the Class Economic Assessment (EA) Study is 10 years, if no parts of the plan are implemented, this Class EA is about long-range corridor protection and its implementation will be driven by the pace of redevelopment. If 10 years elapse with no parts of the plan implemented, the study will be ‘refreshed’ or updated with an Addendum.

Residents can submit feedback until January 6 either by visiting the website www.barrie.ca/BradfordEA or emailing to Brett Gratrix, Senior Project Manager

Transportation Planning, Development Services at Brett.Gratrix@barrie.ca.

Timestamps -

0:00 Intro

0:02:00 Presentation

0:53:00 Q&A