The City of Orillia is exploring affordable housing opportunities to be built in conjunction with its planned transit terminal at 66 Peter St. S., the site of the former Orillia OPP detachment.
Earlier this year, the County of Simcoe issued a call for proposals, seeking partnership opportunities to build more affordable housing, and Orillia city council voted in favour of including affordable housing on the future transit terminal lands at Monday’s council meeting.
The lands, located at 66 Peter St. S., and 53 and 59 Colborne St. E., are “the only city-owned lands which come close to adhering to the county’s criteria,” noted a city staff report considered by city politicians Monday.
In order to facilitate affordable housing on the site, city council approved the following at Monday’s meeting:
- Offering the ‘air rights’ to the county for affordable housing, as the lands will be retained by the city for the future transit terminal;
- Pre-zoning the property for a development up to eight storeys in height; and
- Advising the county of the city’s affordable housing incentives policy, which they can apply to for financial support for affordable housing projects
City staff will also look into potential partnerships with the non-profit and private sectors to develop affordable housing on the site, as it does not fully meet the county’s criteria.
The 1.86-acre site falls just shy of the county’s requested two acres, and the city would only offer the air rights for the land, meaning, in essence, the affordable housing units could only be constructed above the terminal.
“We're not sure how well our proposal will be received because it's not 100 per cent on what is being requested,” said Jill Lewis, the city's senior planner.
“However, the motion from council was to seek partnerships, whether that's the County of Simcoe, non-profit organizations, or private sector,” Lewis said. “Our next step … (is) to see if there are non-profit, affordable housing organizations that might be interested in partnering with us.”
Although council ultimately supported the idea, several councillors raised concerns with pre-zoning the property to permit an eight-storey development.
“I'm in support of affordable housing in Orillia. I don't like the idea of large buildings downtown,” said Coun. Whitney Smith. “I said it when campaigning; I'll say it again. I don't want Orillia to look like little Barrie, and we've already compromised by (approving one eight-storey) building by the previous council, so I will not be in support of this.”
Coun. Tim Lauer also raised concerns about pre-zoning for a potential eight-storey structure downtown.
As it stands, only four-storey buildings are permitted in the area as of now, and public consultation is required to exceed that height – which will no longer be the case given council’s decision to prezone the lands, he explained.
“It already has a zoning of four, with a potential of eight, but it allows the neighbourhood – when that time comes – full argument,” Lauer said. “If you pre-zone it, then they lose the right of that argument.”
Lauer proposed an amendment to remove the eight-storey pre-zoning process from the decision, but council voted against it.
“The transit terminal is going to take up one to two storeys, leaving you with two storeys at max for units, which is going to limit the number of units that you can provide for affordable housing,” said Lewis in response to Lauer’s proposed amendment.
“If you allow the eight storeys, you will maximize the number of affordable units that you can add to the City of Orillia, and it's well documented that we are in a housing crisis. The other thing that is a concern is that rezonings take quite a bit of time," said Lewis.
Coun. Jay Fallis proposed council meet in the middle and pre-zone for a structure up to six storeys in height, but council voted down his idea, as well.
The county’s call for proposal will be released this November.
City council selected the Peter Street site as the new home for a transit terminal in 2020. Click here to read our story about that decision.
