Five Practical Priorities for Barrie

Barrie needs housing and investment, but growth decisions must account for transportation capacity, public services, neighbourhood impact, and the real cost of infrastructure.

• Require food and grocery services inside medium- and high-density developments.Everyday needs should be available within the building or development site to reduce app-based food delivery traffic and short car trips.
• Prioritize walkability and transit access.High-density housing should connect easily to public transit and transit hubs.
• Match development approvals with real service capacity.Roads, transit, utilities, schools, parks, and public services must be considered before development approval.
• Require transparency on long-term infrastructure costs.Residents should understand future costs before major growth decisions are made.
• Establish a rental property licensing program.Rental licensing should hold landlords accountable, reduce disruptive temporary rentals, and protect family-suitable homes.
• Require a neighbourhood-life test for development proposals.Every proposal should answer how it improves daily life for existing and future residents.

Barrie should grow without losing the neighbourhood life that makes people feel at home: places to gather, services nearby, safe spaces for children, and communities that remain open and connected.

• Build neighbourhoods that support daily life.Residents should be able to work, shop, gather, and access services locally.
• Protect neighbourhood identity.Responsible change should preserve long-term community stability.
• Require child-friendly spaces in dense developments.Medium- and high-density residential areas should include places where children can safely spend time.
• Require barrier-free pedestrian design.Dense residential areas should be walkable and accessible without avoidable obstacles.
• Keep dense residential areas open and usable by nearby residents.Dense residential areas should be inclusive, accessible, and connected to surrounding neighbourhoods, not designed as enclosed communities.
• Expand the Licence 2 Ride program year-round for youth mobility.Year-round youth transit access would help young people move around the city for school, work, recreation, and daily life while reducing reliance on dedicated school buses where regular transit can serve students safely and reliably.
• Help residents see a future in Barrie.Barrie should be a city where young people can stay, families can grow, workers can build careers, and seniors can remain connected to the community.

Transportation should help residents move across Barrie directly and predictably, whether they are driving, taking transit, walking, cycling, or connecting to GO service.

• Establish direct rapid bus routes.Rapid routes should follow a zero zig-zag policy and be clearly separated from local supportive routes.
• Connect transit to daily destinations.Rapid transit should connect directly to employment areas, services, GO stations, and transit hubs.
• Schedule road work during off-peak hours where practical.Construction and road improvements should avoid adding unnecessary pressure during peak travel times.
• Add missing turn pockets at major intersections.Right-turn and left-turn lanes are needed where missing turn lanes create rush-hour bottlenecks.
• Review parallel streets for one-way conversions.One-way conversions may improve traffic flow, reduce conflict points, and make better use of existing road space.
• Add a second exit at Barrie South GO Station.A second exit is needed to improve morning access and reduce the more severe evening backups after Toronto trains arrive.

Barrie should not only be a bedroom community for Toronto or a city limited mostly to warehouse and industrial jobs. The city needs stronger small business support, professional employment, and higher-quality local career opportunities so residents with specialized skills, advanced education, and career ambition can build their future here.

• Help small businesses and professional services grow in Barrie.Entrepreneurs, small businesses, and professional service providers should have a clear path to start, expand, and hire locally.
• Encourage higher-quality local employment.Barrie should grow opportunities in technology, finance, engineering, health, and trades.
• Attract satellite offices and professional employers.Barrie should plan designated employment areas, including future downtown office space, to attract companies that create local career opportunities.
• Reduce the pressure for residents to commute elsewhere.Residents should not have to leave Barrie to find high-quality work.

Barrie needs public safety and support services that produce visible results, not endless crisis management. People in crisis need real pathways into shelter, treatment, recovery, employment, and stability, while residents and businesses need streets, parks, and public spaces that are safe and usable.

• Strengthen road safety through active enforcement.Intersections with repeated collisions, unsafe turns, blocked crossings, or rush-hour conflicts, and roads where speeding is common, should receive active monitoring, visible police presence, and enforcement.
• Review downtown service concentration.Barrie should examine how concentrated homelessness and crisis services affect safety, businesses, residents, tourism, public spaces, and downtown function.
• Plan better-managed service hub locations.Service hubs need space, transit access, safety, supervision, cleanup, and operating controls that can be properly managed.
• Connect support services to real work opportunities.City suppliers, contractors, and local businesses should be encouraged to hire people from shelters and participate in apprenticeship, mentoring, and work-readiness programs.
• Demand measurable support-service results.Support-service funding should be tied to visible outcomes, including shelter transitions, treatment connections, employment placements, public-space cleanup response, and reduced service gaps.