New Barrie Sea Cadets waterfront facility breaks ground

A long-awaited new waterfront home for Barrie’s Sea Cadets is one step closer to reality.

City officials and community leaders gathered on May 9 for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Barrie Sea Cadets facility and parade grounds next to the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre at 205 Lakeshore Dr.

Construction on the project is expected to begin this summer.

Among those attending the ceremony were Mayor Alex Nuttall, Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson, councillors Clare Riepma, Craig Nixon and Jim Harris, former mayor Dave Aspden and Diane Chislett, branch president of the Navy League of Canada.

The project includes the new 600 square metre Sea Cadets facility estimated to cost $6.7 million, along with a ceremonial parade ground budgeted at $777,000.

Plans for the facility include training rooms, offices, boat storage space, washrooms and a walking path connecting the site to the waterfront.

The Sea Cadets are currently based at a facility on Simcoe Street near Bayfield Street in downtown Barrie.

Nuttall said discussions about relocating the facility began roughly 20 years ago during his first term on council as a councillor, when Aspden was mayor.

“I was elected in 2006 as a councillor for Ward 10 and, at that point, Mayor Aspden had been elected mayor, and the two of us were placed on a committee to look at moving the facility somewhere better,” he said.

“We didn’t get it done back then, but there was a focus on it for a long time. What today represents is all those years of work from so many people.”

Nuttall said the project represents an investment in youth and community infrastructure.

“This project reflects our commitment to investing in community infrastructure that serves young people, supports volunteers and strengthens Barrie’s connection to both the waterfront and our youth,” he said.

Aspden told Compass News he was pleased to see the project finally moving ahead.

“It’s a good location for this. It’s nice to finally see a new facility coming,” he said.

“By the looks of it, it’s going to be a nice building. It’s exciting.”

Chislett said the groundbreaking marked a milestone after decades of advocacy for a new building.

“This is a historic moment for us – we’ve been waiting for over 30 years,” she said.

The relocation is tied to future plans for a new 45,000-square-foot performing arts centre on the current Sea Cadets property. Construction on the performing arts centre is expected to begin in spring 2027.