A piece of property currently vacant could soon be home to an expanded manufacturing facility in Barrie. On Wednesday night Barrie councillors held a public meeting for the recent rezoning of 131 Lockhart Rd. On April 9, Mayor Alex Nuttall directed staff to begin the process of preparing the necessary bylaw with his strong mayor powers. “Industrial land is incredibly important to me; jobs are incredibly important to me and I think they’re incredibly important to the people of Barrie,” Nuttall said to CTV News. According to the mayor, the lands will be used to help Canadian Crane expand its operations in Barrie. The mayor says the manufacturer, which constructs overhead bridge cranes, is looking to consolidate its operations and expand its production capacity in Simcoe County. “They can expand the number of employees here; [it] is a very, very good thing for the City of Barrie,” Nuttall said. “It’s good for that business and certainly good to support manufacturing and growth in the Ontario economy.” The mayor says the expansion could bring upwards of 25 new jobs to the City. The president of the company Foad Sabet said to CTV News that despite a lot of volatility in the market at the moment, Canadian Crane is very optimistic about its future and remains quite confident in its operations in Simcoe County. “It’s a good news story because it’s a homegrown business. It’s operated for [about] 40 years and one that we want to help facilitate their growth here in the City of Barrie,” Nuttall said. The mayor says his strong mayor powers were needed to ensure that this was completed in a timely manner. The rezoning was originally supposed to be part of a City-wide rezoning effort, however that was sent back to staff for further review. No members of the public provided a deputation during the public meeting. However, written correspondence was provided to the City of Barrie from a representative of the Salem Landowners Group. While the group says members are not opposed to the zoning change, they ask that any further approvals be conditional “upon the owner satisfying its obligations to contribute to the cost sharing arrangements for the Salem Secondary Plan area.” The mayor did not provide a timeline on when the next steps will be taken.
