Oro-Medonte receives Barrie's ‘high-level' proposal, counters with terms
When it comes to the City of Barrie's boundary expansion proposal, it seems every time Springwater zigs, Oro-Medonte zags.
Last week, Springwater Township council
rejected receiving Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall's presentation
, 'Proposed Principles for Boundary Adjustment Agreement, City of Barrie and Township of Springwater,' by a vote of 5-2.
During its meeting on Wednesday, Oro-Medonte Township council voted unanimously to accept a
similar proposal letter
from Nuttall, dated May 13, and respond to it with their own set of guiding principles.
'The communication from the City of Barrie does speak for itself in terms of what is before council today,' said Shawn Binns, chief administrative officer for Oro-Medonte.
'This comes from a meeting that was held with the mayor and the deputy (mayor) and myself to understand the facts of the proposal that was put forward by the City of Barrie. I think there's a lot of misconceptions in terms of an agreement and tabling an agreement for council's consideration.'
According to Binns, the letter the township received was 'a high-level proposal' with general terms and principles that have been outlined by Barrie for Oro-Medonte council's consideration.
'In no way, shape or form, at this point, is council looking to accept it,' Binns stressed. 'We're still going through the process and we have the ability, I think, to influence that process.'
The township drafted a motion that would receive Nuttall's proposal and would articulate the principles that would go back to the City of Barrie and the provincial land development facilitation process to guide future discussions.
'They've come forward to us with a set of terms and principles on behalf of Barrie,' Oro-Medonte Mayor Randy Greenlaw said.
'What we need to do is reply, outlining the terms and principles which we think are an acceptable path forward, which will be merged into the facilitation process moving forward.'
Those principles are:
Coun. David Clark supported the decision to keep the conversation going.
'What this motion is doing is establishing our continued belief in how this process should go,' he said. 'The City of Barrie has made an offer and we say, 'Thank you for the offer, we're not interested,' but we want to continue to have these discussions with the most pertinent and important information at hand.
'I think it's important to stay engaged,' Clark added.
Talk of annexation started about 18 months ago, when, on Nov. 6, 2023, Nuttall 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.
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