They came, they saw and they asked questions.
The City of Barrie hosted a four-hour open house at city hall on Jan. 15 to address recent municipal boundary changes.
Residents who became part of Barrie following the annexation of lands from Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships were invited to speak with city staff about property taxes, road maintenance, parks, stormwater management, police and fire services, library services and small business resources.
According to city staff, just over 100 properties were annexed, adding fewer than 200 new residents to the city.
Patricia and Bob Richards have owned a 100-acre farm along Penetanguishene Road for 30 years.
Bob said neither he nor Patricia wanted their property to become part of the city, making the transition a mixed experience.
“This is a mixed bag for us,” he said.
“We’re farmers so we live on a farm. We didn’t ask or care to be in Barrie, but this wasn’t our choice — we’ll figure out a way to work with it and be fine with it — we aren’t selling our farm.”
Patricia said they attended the open house to better understand city services.
“There’s basic things, like garbage collection, the library, fire permits, things like that,” she said.
Siblings Daniel Quinlan and Marie Wursten own a farm property in the former Oro Medonte lands. Although they do not live on the property, they manage it as a family holding passed down to them. They said city officials were able to answer their questions.
“This was good — we got a lot of questions answered and we got some information that we can use moving forward,” Dan said.
Marie said she has mixed feelings about the change but remains cautiously optimistic.
“We need to give it some time — we are still kind of waiting to see what comes out of it so time will tell,” she said.
Kelly Oakley, director of the city’s boundary adjustment team, said staff were fielding many questions related to property taxes. She said residents with concerns are encouraged to contact her team directly.
“We have some information about how taxes will be phased in, if there is an increase and they’ve got some information about timing,” she said.
“They can give us a call if they want to go through some specific, any items related to their property and taxes — we are happy to have these residents in the city.”
Mayor Alex Nuttall also attended the open house and told Compass News he heard positive feedback from new residents.
“I think there is some excitement — I’ve heard a lot of positivity so far,” he said.
“There are the prospects of city services, some of the things we’ve done in terms of being able to mitigate the tax increases from removing from Oro-Medonte and Springwater into Barrie are popular, then our fire and police services, as well as ensuring that there’s jobs and opportunities here.”
Barrie officially annexed 1,216 hectares from Springwater Township and 457 hectares from Oro-Medonte Township on Jan. 1.
Some services for newly annexed residents will transition gradually. Curbside waste collection will continue to be provided by Simcoe County until the City of Barrie assumes responsibility in February.
Road maintenance will continue without interruption, while some services may remain under county or township delivery through the winter months.
