Comment
Two evil words 'boundary change'
by Michelle Minnoch

As we are all well aware, the IGAP numbers stated that Simcoe County, Barrie and Orillia will have a 2031 population of 667,000. With various municipalities getting their Official Plans into high gear, Mayors of these municipalities received answers at last weeks Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) meeting.

A lot of questions regarding growth seem to be the talk of the Town, specifically regarding growth in the northern end of Innisfil, and those two words many do not like to hear, "boundary change".

While IGAP outlined that most municipalities have a designated 25 year land supply, Barrie, New Tecumseth, Springwater, Essa and Wasaga Beach do not. If the Barrie population is to reach 110,000, with an additional 50,842 new jobs, and the City of Barrie is all but almost out of land, where are these residents of the City going to go?

The Town of Innisfil is expected to increase by an additional 12,000 plus people, bringing the population to 45,200 there is also an anticipated 3,612 jobs to be added.

At the latest IGAP open house, the 2031 Barrie expected population was 250,000 and the population for Innisfil was under 50,000. Inquiring about the lack of land Barrie has, and the expected population growth for the City between now and 2031, I was informed that yes, the number of 250,000 was correct, but the growth was designated for the 'Barrie area'.

The 'Barrie area" it seems are the lands in the north end of the Town of Innisfil.

In 1981, Barrie and Innisfil struck a deal on moratorium lands that would see Barrie not able to apply for those lands until 2011. With that being only five years away and the City of Barrie running out of lands to accommodate growth, I think 'boundary change' will be coming up a lot within the next few years.

At one of the IGAP open houses, a Barrie resident I spoke to who works in Innisfil suggested to me that he thought we should go the way of the Greater Toronto Area GTA, and become the GBA Greater Barrie Area.

Not sure how well that would sit with residents of the Town. My guess is though, not well. Residents of the Town of Innisfil, whether they were born and raised here, or they have just moved here from The Big Smoke, like the town setting, the town atmosphere and the town lifestyle. That is why they chose to live in a town and not in a city the size of Barrie, or a metropolis the size of Toronto.

Change is coming in the way of population and employment. As I have stated before, change is inevitable, and numbers dictated by the Province are the rules we have to follow.

As long as the word 'change' is not proceeded by the word 'boundary'.