After apologizing for the “extensively worded” motion he was about to table, Oro-Medonte Township Deputy Mayor Peter Lavoie trashed the provincial facilitation process that was initiated to find a solution to the City of Barrie’s boundary expansion proposal.
“I make no blame here,” he said Wednesday afternoon during the township's council meeting, as he began to summarize the motion. “I just find the process will not lead us to a place where any of us will be satisfied.
“We don’t have a cost structure. We can’t agree to what the basic findings are of the experts and we can’t agree to take anything off the table once there’s an acknowledgement by the planning experts that something isn’t needed," he added. “Therefore, we can’t progress."
Frustrated by a process that he said has only had one full meeting where all of the political members were in attendance, Lavoie tabled a five-page motion, which included a one-and-a-half-page appendix on how his proposed process would work.
Lavoie said he put the motion forward to respond to a variety concerns about the facilitation process:
- it's not transparent and does not allow public input
- it's slow to yield progress and does not have a specific timeline to start and end
- it doesn't provide the positions of the parties either to the public or between themselves
- to date, it has failed to adequately address a problem or need for which the facilitation seeks to address
- the findings of the Stage 2 Hemson report and the prior report commissioned by the township and County of Simcoe has identified Barrie does not have need for employment land (which Barrie continues to assert is requires)
- it does not give elected representatives the opportunity to communicate face-to-face
- it may not provide procedural fairness to the parties if the province is called upon to decide any residual matters
- it's vulnerable to assertions that it is being affected by the hand of the province
- and it does not have a procedure of any form.
Lavoie said the purpose of the motion was “to cause the four councils to pass or defeat similar motions in their own councils to determine, or publicly state, whether or not they want to engage in a public process” that permits the residents of the four communities to have a say.
“I offer this motion to this council and the other three councils (Barrie, Springwater and county) for consideration and their own motions for a vote to establish whether or not they want to engage in a different kind of public negotiations where we can consider the issues and deal with the issues in a manner not unlike an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing would be conducted,” he said.
“It would be more of a direct negotiation involving the elected representatives who sit on the councils who would come forth to meet," Lavoie added.
According to the deputy mayor, the proposed process would have a six-month shelf life and the parties would take whatever agreements or disagreements they have and submit them to the province to make the final decisions.
“At least there would be some foundation for agreement and where there wasn’t agreement, some foundation to represent what each party felt were the issues and to rebut the issues of the other parties,” he said.
City of Barrie officials declined to comment on Lavoie’s motion when contacted by BarrieToday.
Springwater Township Mayor Jennifer Coughlin said she wouldn’t comment on Lavoie’s motion, due to an earlier agreement between the parties not to talk publicly about the process.
“Throughout the provincially facilitated process, I have refrained from commenting on the statements or resolutions of parties involved, as it was agreed by all parties involved that communication would be made through joint media releases,” she wrote in an email to BarrieToday.
Simcoe County Warden Basil Clarke reiterated its concerns, which were initially expressed shortly after Hemson Consulting’s Stage 2 joint land-needs assessment and study was presented to Oro-Medonte, Springwater and Barrie on Dec. 11, 2024.
“Meaningful discussions around residential growth, types of housing and related infrastructure are crucial,” Clarke wrote in an email to BarrieToday. “However, as previously stated, we are concerned about the potential impacts on already planned developments, investments and employment areas across the region.
“Many area municipalities are already prepared to accommodate the growth and employment needs of the region," the warden added.
Oro-Medonte council passed the motion unanimously.