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City of Barrie Proposed Boundary Adjustment

The Province of Ontario issued a media release regarding introduction of the Barrie-Oro-Medonte-Springwater Boundary Adjustment Act, 2025.

On October 15, 2025, Springwater Council referred the City of Barrie Proposed Boundary Adjustment back to staff for additional information. The proposal will again be brought forward to Council for consideration on Wednesday, November 5, 2025.

Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Time: 6:30 p.m
Location: Council Chambers, Administration Centre, Township of Springwater, 2231 Nursery Road, Minesing, ON L9X 1A8
Livestream: www.youtube.com/@springwatertwp
Agenda: springwater.civicweb.net/Portal

The Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator released an updated memo, along with technical memo's from consultants engaged to complete a Joint Land Needs Assessment. These documents are included below:

In addition to the above information, the City of Barrie Proposed Boundary Adjustment Agreement (Restructuring Framework), including mapping of the proposed lands, is included below. Please note that Section 6 (Compensation) and the draft mapping have been amended by the City of Barrie. Revised draft agreements were added September 30, 2025 at 3:57 p.m.

Any future boundary change would require the necessary municipal and Provincial processes and approvals under applicable legislation. Until such approvals are in place, there are no changes to municipal boundaries.

City of Barrie and Township of Springwater Shared Principles for Boundary Adjustment

The Township of Springwater remains committed to finding mutually beneficial solutions for managing growth that strengthen our respective communities and provides opportunities for all residents.

The City of Barrie and the Township of Springwater met following direction from Springwater Council to resume discussions. The meeting focused on shared priorities and mutual commitments related to servicing and boundary adjustments that benefit both communities.

Mayor Nuttall and Mayor Coughlin met to develop the key principles of a framework reflecting a shared commitment to advance growth and collaboration. The meeting represents a critical step towards addressing the future need for residential and employment lands, supporting long-term economic growth and fostering collaboration for sustainable development in alignment with Provincial priorities.

Under the proposed principles, the City of Barrie has offered to extend municipal water and wastewater services to a portion of the Township of Springwater. In exchange for the servicing, the Township of Springwater would transfer supplementary lands to the City of Barrie for long-term residential and employment growth, as per the map included below. The proposed arrangement and associated compensation would be modeled similar to the St. Thomas/Central Elgin boundary adjustment agreement executed in 2024.

Shared principles include:

  • City of Barrie boundary expanded in exchange for water and wastewater servicing in defined area and compensation aligned to the St. Thomas/Central Elgin agreement;
  • Formation of a joint economic development committee to support coordinated growth and investment strategies and dedicated economic development resources for the Township of Springwater;
  • A collaborative approach to regional healthcare services will be pursued to ensure accessible care across both municipalities;
  • A property tax phase-in program to ease the transition for affected property owners;
  • Access to City of Barrie recreational facilities, programs and waterfront parking passes;
  • Confirmation of the Mayor of Springwater as a member on the Little Lake Conservation Trust;
  • A request for the Ontario Energy Board to consider an alignment of the Alectra service area.

This matter will be brought forward to the Township of Springwater Council in the coming weeks.

Boundary Expansion Request Background

In September 2023, Mayor Nuttall from the City of Barrie presented a proposal to Springwater Council regarding a proposed boundary adjustment. In this proposal, the City indicated that they currently have a very limited supply of industrial developable land with access to water and wastewater. They are seeking additional vacant and serviced employment lands beyond the City’s existing boundary, in the Townships of Springwater and Oro-Medonte, to attract new investment and allow existing businesses to expand. A similar presentation was made to the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure & Cultural Policy on November 6, 2023.

In addition to the City of Barrie's boundary request that would impact the Township of Springwater, the City also requested a municipal boundary adjustment with the Township of Oro-Medonte.

In response to the a request from the City of Barrie for assistance from the office of the Provincial Land Development Facilitator, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing assigned the Deputy Provincial Land and Development Facilitator to assist with discussions between the Township of Springwater, City of Barrie, Township of Oro-Medonte and the County of Simcoe. The purpose of the facilitated discussions is to develop mutually beneficially approaches to enable growth in the broader region, while fulfilling local objectives and implementing Provincial priorities such as the creation of housing and employment. On June 13, 2024 all parties issued a joint statement pertaining to the City of Barrie's boundary expansion request.

On September 13, 2024 Mayor Coughlin, Mayor Greenlaw, Mayor Nuttall and County Warden Clarke, provided an update on the discussions and advised that the parties had jointly retained Hemson Consulting to complete a Joint Land Needs Analysis and Study with the intention of determining the need for additional employment and/or residential lands within and around the City of Barrie, Township of Oro-Medonte and the Township of Springwater.

On December 6, 2024, Hemson Consulting provided the Joint Land Needs Analysis and Study. The study represents the completion of Stages 1 and 2 of the engagement and was performed to evaluate the City of Barrie’s claim of a need for additional employment lands and consideration for additional residential lands at the boundaries of the City of Barrie, the Township of Oro-Medonte and the Township of Springwater.

At a Special Meeting held on December 11, Springwater Council received a presentation from Hemson Consulting regarding highlights from the Joint Land Needs Analysis and Study. The study represents the completion of Stages 1 and 2 of the engagement and was performed to evaluate the City of Barrie’s claim of a need for additional employment lands and consideration for additional residential lands at the boundaries of the City of Barrie, the Township of Oro-Medonte and the Township of Springwater.

Following the presentation by Hemson Consulting, Springwater Council voted in favour of continuing to engage with the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator, Hemson Consulting, the City of Barrie, Township of Oro-Medonte, and the County of Simcoe. The next stage of the process, Stage 3, involves Hemson Consulting developing a work plan to further analyze the options identified in the Joint Land Needs Analysis and Study. Additional information on the proposed work plan will be shared publicly, where possible.

At this time, no specific lands have been identified for annexation. Stage 3 of the engagement will assist in identifying parcels of interest. The Township of Springwater has not established an official position on the boundary request from the City of Barrie. The facilitated discussions amongst all parties remains a voluntary process and in the spirit of cooperation and respect, the Township of Springwater has strictly adhered to the process outlined in the Provincially facilitated agreement with the City of Barrie, Township of Oro-Medonte and the County of Simcoe. The Township will continue to move forward in this manner with the hope that a comprehensive assessment of this kind, will guide collective decisions on addressing land needs for all parties and foster regional collaboration.

Boundary Expansion Request Relevant Documents

Correspondence received on the City of Barrie Boundary Request will be presented for information at a future Regular meeting of Council. Any such correspondence will be included in the Council Information Package, which is published every Friday and comprises communications from various government levels, media releases, staff memos, and public notices.

This section includes correspondence that has been received from the City of Barrie, the Province of Ontario and other government agencies:

This section includes correspondence received from external agencies, developers and residents:

Questions and Answers: Facilitated Discussions Regarding the City of Barrie's Proposed Boundary Expansion

The purpose of these facilitated discussions is to develop a mutually acceptable approach to enable growth in the area and achieve local and provincial priorities, such as the creation of housing and opportunities for employment in the vicinity of the boundaries between Barrie/Springwater and Barrie/Oro-Medonte.

In March 2023, Springwater Council authorized the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer to meet with surrounding landowners/property developers, municipalities, and/or representatives from the City of Barrie regarding potential inter-municipal servicing arrangements, shared services and municipal boundary adjustments. Following this, the City of Barrie approached Springwater Council in September 2023 requesting additional land that were to be utilized for employment land uses.

In an effort to further these discussions the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing assigned the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator to facilitate these discussions between the City of Barrie, the Townships of Oro-Medonte and Springwater and the County of Simcoe.

As a first step, Hemson consulting was jointly retained in September of this year to evaluate the need for additional residential and employment lands at the boundaries of Barrie/Springwater and Barrie/Oro-Medonte. Hemson has recently completed that task.

The study area includes lands along the Barrie/Springwater border and the Barrie/Oro-Medonte border.

View the Map

Yes, the Joint Lands Needs Analysis and Study is publicly available on each of the municipalities websites.

View the Joint Land Needs Analysis and Study

The study determined that there is a need for additional land for residential development and for comprehensive community area uses for the City of Barrie.

At this time, the Township of Springwater has not established an official position on the land request. The Township remains committed to finding mutually beneficial solutions for managing growth that strengthen our respective communities and provides opportunities for all residents.

Members of the public are invited to attend a public meeting of Council on December 11 at 4:30 p.m. During the meeting Hemson Consulting will present their findings and this matter will be further discussed by Council in an open session meeting.

As discussions continue through the facilitated process, all parties are committed to providing regular updates to keep their respective communities informed. Any potential decisions that may result from the facilitation process will be considered in an open, transparent forum.

Hemson Consulting is an experienced consulting firm in the Province of Ontario, that advises on growth management, long-range strategic planning, and adequacy of land supply for municipalities. Their services were contracted through a competitive procurement process.

The cost of the Joint Lands Needs Analysis and Study has been shared by all four municipalities.

An agreement on the scope of further analysis and cost sharing would be required before any further work is undertaken.

Should Hemson be tasked with further work, recommendations will be provided to develop an appropriate consultation strategy for the parties to consider, including government ministries, agencies, municipal staff and Councils, Indigenous communities, and the general public.

Contact Us

Township of Springwater
Administration Centre
2231 Nursery Road
Minesing, ON
L9X 1A8

Email: Contact Us
Phone: 705-728-4784
General Fax: 705-728-6957