While overnight parking restrictions have been talk of Barrie's city council, a specific area on Huronia Road's parking situation is now under the microscope.
On Wednesday, a motion passed through general committee and city council prompting development services staff to investigate the feasibility of restricting parking in the area of Huronia and Lockhart Road.
The potential restrictions would force parking away with "no parking" signage from both sides of Huronia Road 150 metres north of Lockhart, while the northeast side of Lockhart would have a 100 metre restriction east of Huronia.
An auction house at the intersection has had customers need to park on the busy road's shoulder due to a lack of space in the lot.
Another feasibility study was recommended for one side of Alexander Avenue from Johnson Street to Steel Street, a narrow residential area that sees mid-day traffic from nearby Johnson Street Public School.
Both potential restrictions were items of discussion during an executive committee meeting on February 25.
Staff will investigate and report back to general committee, for which the next meeting is March 11.
Also passed through City council were two by-laws regarding community improvement on lands recently acquired on Jan. 1 from Springwater and Oro-Medonte.
The first designated the land as a "Community Improvement Project Area," under a newly-adopted Employment Development Community Improvement Plan (CIP), which was adopted by carrying the second by-law. Now, all of Barrie's land is within the plan's employment development boundary.
Within the plan's text, it says the goal is to "help encourage job creation by incentivizing development projects that have the potential to create employment opportunities within Barrie... by using financial incentives and other programs to reduce the cost of development to give Barrie an advantage when competing with other municipalities for employment related investment projects."
It says the CIP will be a five-year program and will be reviewed and updated on a five-year cycle.
COMMITTEES
Earlier, an arts advisory committee recommendation from January 27 was approved in the City's infrastructure and community investment committee, asking staff to look into the adult entertainment by-law for areas to include provisions for burlesque performers.
The current by-law, as it stands, does not feature the term "burlesque," and an amendment could potentially separate such performances from how other adult entertainment, like stripping, is governed in the city.
Burlesque is usually seen as the "art of the striptease," a more theatrical, less explicit way for performers to express themselves for adult audiences. However, in some cases, performers don't even take their clothes off at all.
The art form also can include satire and extravagant costumes, but differs from drag in some ways.
A review of the adult entertainment by-law has not taken place since 2005. The arts advisory committee has previously noted the importance of altering the by-law in favour of ensuring burlesque performers can operate legally within the City.
Staff will report back with recommendation, and any changes would require council approval.
In the same committee meeting, a separate report was amended and approved regarding the Barrie Baycats use of Athletic Kulture Stadium.
Just over two months until the team begins its first professional season, the CBL team is still without a deal to use the stadium as its tenant.
At the Barrie Community Sports Complex, the stadium has hosted the club since its inaugural 2001 season.
An initial recommendation to the committee would authorize Kevin Datema, the City's director of recreation and culture services, to execute a new, two-year agreement (through the 2027 season) with the Baycats which would outline cost $375 plus HST per regular game in user costs, including lighting, dressing rooms and media booth access.
The deal would also include a mutual option for 2028 and 2029.
However, Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson motioned to amended the agreement, removing the mutual option provision to allow further discussions to take place between the city and the Baycats.
"There's some ongoing conversations through the city and the Baycats on a variety of [opportunities],"he said during the meeting. "Business plans and stuff need to have a little bit of stability, but this allows that and for us to do the work that we're doing on an ongoing basis with the Baycats organization."
As amended, the motion was approved.
The team has been working through plans to build a new home ballpark within Barrie proper, with some estimates pointing at the 2028 season as its first for the team. However, other details on a new stadium are yet to be confirmed by the team or the City.
