Plan to increase Barrie’s downtown greenspace under consideration

Barrie councillors discussed plans to remove a reservoir downtown, changes to ward boundaries and funding for Redwood.

Nearly one year after Barrie city council reversed course on a controversial plan to bring big changes to the City’s south shore, the other corner of the waterfront is now under the spotlight.

In recent weeks councillors have been briefed by staff on the needs to decommission the Bayview Park Reservoir at Sam Cancilla Park, located along Dunlop Street West. A staff report brought to general committee in February said the decommissioning and removal of the booster pumping station would cost $2.565 million dollars.

The reservoir has been fenced off for the time being, as staff say the underground roof has been showing signs of instability since an inspection was completed in the Spring of 2024.

However, with the importance of the waterfront top of mind for the mayor and councillors, conversations are happening for how the City could possibly revitalize the park at the same time of the reservoir’s decommissioning and removal.

“There’s lots of opportunity there, I think, to integrate into our waterfront land and our waterfront parks,” Mayor Alex Nuttall said to CTV News. “We all know how important those are and how we need to preserve and actually increase the land we have available for the public on our waterfront.”

On Wednesday night the Infrastructure and Community Investment Committee gave its approval to the funding request by staff to decommission and remove the reservoir. The funding will come from the City’s Water Capital Reserve, with staff now tasked with returning the cost to the reserve by reviewing other projects in the 2025 Capital Status Report.

As part of its approval, the committee has also tasked staff with reviewing a design concept presented Wednesday night by two nearby residents on one way to revitalize the waterfront park.

Michael Hassey and Rick Webster, two residents who live near the park, presented a rough design concept of how they envision Sam Cancilla Park being revitalized, connecting the parkette with the rest of the waterfront greenspace.

“I just want to say thank you for putting the work, time effort and money into improving the waterfront, improving the quality of life around you; I think that is a beautiful civic duty you’ve done,” Nuttall said to the two men during Wednesday’s meeting, pointing to Webster’s experience in the service construction and municipal sectors.

Staff will review the plan proposed by the two men as council has directed them to advance a previously planned revitalization in the Capital Plan. Originally slatted for 2028, staff have been directed to move that plan forward to this year to align it with the reservoir’s decommissioning and removal.

Staff have also been directed to work with the property owner of the commercial strip mall located at the corner of Dunlop and Mulcaster Streets. In order to fully connect the parkette with the wider waterfront area, that plaza would need to be removed.

“The corner property is still a question mark but I think that we should send staff off to make it an exclamation mark, one way or another,” Nuttall said during Wednesday’s meeting, pointing to a long desire of many to improve the park.

In February the Affordability Committee heard from representatives of Blackthorn Development for its planned new residential tower at the corner of Dunlop and Mulcaster. That meeting saw a high number of deputations from residents, most against the project.

That spurred council to consider a way to instead use the property to expand the City’s downtown parkland.

The motion is still subject to approval by both general committee and city council.