Population growth number one concern of Innisfil and Barrie residents
Residents Want Urban Sprawl Contained

INNISFIL - An Environics survey commissioned by the Town of Innisfil shows 7 in 10 residents in Innisfil (68%) and Barrie (69%) are very concerned about the effect of future population growth in their municipalities.

As well, of those surveyed, a strong majority of Innisfil homeowners (80%) are opposed to giving up a portion of the north part of the Town of Innisfil to Barrie.

"What we're hearing loud and clear from residents in Innisfil is that they're not about to let Barrie bully us into annexing any part of our town," says Innisfil Mayor Brian Jackson. "Clearly growth must be managed responsibly and more importantly even Barrie residents are saying they don't want the scale of growth that Barrie Council is actively promoting."

When asked to think about population growth over the next 25 years, most homeowners in Barrie (54%) prefer that the population of the City of Barrie increases a little to 150,000. Another 25 percent want it to remain as it is at about 125,000, while only 17 percent think it should increase to the 250,000 supported by the City.

The most common concerns expressed by Barrie citizens associated with population growth are sprawl and traffic congestion.

The Environics survey also found that a strong majority of homeowners in both Innisfil (77%) and Barrie (84%) think it's important that they have the opportunity to work in, or close to their municipality. Innisfil's approach in the stalled negotiations would effectively address that issue.

"Accommodating population and employment growth is a significant quality of life issue", added Mayor Brian Jackson. "Our Innisfil proposal would create thousands of jobs, and give people the opportunity to work where they live. Unfortunately we can't reach a local solution, when Barrie refuses to meet with us."

The findings of the survey are based on a telephone survey of 400 homeowners in the City of Barrie and 200 in the Town of Innisfil. The margin of error for a sample of 600 is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.