County set for next round of growth meetings
By Richard Blanchard

The next stage in Simcoe County's Growth Management Study will see another series of public meetings throughout the county.

Members of the corporate services committee gave approval to the release of the latest draft last week and three public meetings, which will be hosted through the county at the end of the month.

A meeting will be held at the Nottawasaga Inn between 5 and 8:30 p.m. on April 29.

Other meetings will be held in Midland on April 24 and Midhurst on April 25.

The meeting at the Nottawasaga will see a formal presentation about the study at 7 p.m.

County warden Tony Guergis told councillors that the latest step in the growth management study was further proof that the county could come up with its own solution to growth issues.

"It's wise of the county to move forward. Its given us a tremendous opportunity to make our own decisions about the future," he said after the corporate services meeting.

Among the report's recommendations are an increased emphasis on industrial/commercial growth along the Highway 400 corridor and recognizing that population growth will be concentrated in the southern part of the county during the next 25 years.

The City of Barrie is expected to increase by 55,000 people to a total of 185,000 while Innisfil is expected to grow by almost 100 per cent to 65,000. New Tecumseth is also expected to nearly double in size to 49,000 residents by 2031.

The study suggests that growth is likely less than was originally projected in Essa and Adjala-Tosorontio.

As Adjala-Tosorontio council discussed last week, the county study expects that the township will grow at a rate of about 1.85 per cent per annum over the next 25 years.

The township itself had forecast a rate of over two percent per year.

Guergis said that the emphasis on population and industrial growth in South Simcoe was a recognition of the development growth.

He noted that the report recommended that the county be given some flexibility in approving new industrial land along the Highway 400 corridor.

"I know that there is a lot of land designated industrial in the northern part of the county which isn't currently. It maybe needed in the future but there is the demand now in the south," he said.

Guergis said that he was pleased that the county was moving fairly closely to the schedule that it had set for the Growth Management Study.

Further information is available at http://growth.simcoe.ca.