YMCA issue should be over

As Coun. Alex Nuttall pulled the City of Barrie van into a small parking spot on the narrow residential Gatineau street at 4:30 a.m. early Feb. 10, he likely sighed in relief, that the worst was over.
Still, parallel parking the city van wasn’t easy, especially with the little sleep and overabundance of excitement in the previous 24 hours.

When Nuttall and his council colleague Barry Ward hopped into a city van to head to Ottawa after a council meeting that had run overtime, forcing them to miss their late-evening flight to Ottawa and left them driving six hours in the middle of winter, they thought the Allandale Station issue was settled.

While there to advocate on protecting Lake Simcoe, expanding public transit and investing in critical infrastructure, councillors also worked to bring a variety of federal departments on board with an innovative plan that includes the YMCA and a well-established development company that’s new to Barrie.

Indeed, bringing the federal government on track makes sense, as the proposal includes restoring the old station, but also spurring redevelopment and revitalization of old Allandale and its integration into the city core and waterfront. Nuttall and Ward met with a series of ministers, including sport, heritage and infrastructure and communities.

They picked up the ball and ran with it.

It’s an incredible game plan, actually, as the new YMCA proposal updates the five-year-old Allandale Community Improvement Plan and integrates it with Ontario’s Places to Grow and cutting-edge economic development theory by Dr. Richard Florida. Perhaps it doesn’t fit precisely into the tight confines of the CIP, but it adheres to its spirit and brings it into world today, which is very different than it was five years ago, in terms of not only economics but also planning and economic development directives.

The YMCA plan council approved is ahead of its time.
Unfortunately, its detractors are so focused on yesterday that they cannot see today’s realities and tomorrow’s possibilities.

Let’s hope that the greater community sees the incredible potential and supports building a project that doesn’t try to fit what existed before, but which envisions a place that can accommodate us all. Let’s leave the tight spaces to on-street parking.

Comments

[Sampson]

Great Mystery how city staff, the historical society and the heritage society all supported the Porter solution. Yet council was on its way to Ottawa after confirming the Y, the minute the meeting was over, to "pick up the ball and run with it."

This sounds so much like the Rodin debacle; wait it just might be.

[Laurie]

Perhaps what this shows is how well the public-private partnership that includes the Y and new-to-Barrie developer Correct Group fits not only with provincial planning policy but also federal community-building, heritage, sport and arts grants programs.