Barrie has an incredible opportunity over the next few years to position itself as one of - if not the top waterfront/boater friendly community in all of Ontario and at the same time create an as yet untapped revenue stream and boost tourism numbers beyond what we have seen before.

With a proposed Hotel and convention center providing the perfect catalyst, Barrie could begin to evolve its downtown into a thriving lakeside entertainment and shopping district and become a magnate for unique and stylish boutiques, galleries, craft and antique shops, great markets, cafes and fashionable restaurants where for lease signs, tattoo parlours and pawn shops currently dot its landscape. 

There is opportunity for revenue growth that will encourage new cutting edge architecture in hand with the revamping of Barrie’s historic downtown architecture to its past splendor. Dunlop and its neighbouring streets can evolve into vibrant and exciting pedestrian friendly streets that will lure residents and visitors to our core. 

Yes Barrie has an official plan for its future that intends for much of what I described to take place. Kind of a “build it and they will come “philosophy behind it all which leaves much to chance. 

The proposed downtown Hotel and convention centre is an “about time” great idea that will attract attention and new revenue to downtown and keep millions of dollars in convention spending from going down the highway to the GTA because we don’t have venues at present with the capacity to hold events bigger than a few hundred people. But this is just one part of what could and should be taking place to provide the foundation for a revitalized down town. 

Literally Millions of tourist dollars travel across Lake Simcoe between the Trent and Severn Rivers each year. The upper echelon of North American Society move across our lake in a steady stream from May to October on yachts that are pretty much six and even seven figure floating 5-star hotel suites. Very few of them or any Boaters/cottagers on Lake Simcoe will make the side trip to Barrie because they know the chances of finding temporary or overnight (transient) docking are slim to none and the only semblance of a dining experience apparent when scanning downtown from the lake is Hooters or Burger King. 

Barrie take note: The Big Bay Point Resort project is going to introduce hundreds of new boating enthusiasts to Lake Simcoe just a fifteen to twenty minute boat ride from downtown Barrie. Along with thousands of existing waterfront property owners, most will take the occasional afternoon or evening cruise past Barrie’s down town, few will think to or have the option to tie up and spend a few hours enjoying Barrie’s down town shopping and dining. 

A couple years ago I tried to shake up our last City Council on the idea of expanding Barrie’s downtown marina, especially the public docking facilities into a world class marina facility capable of attracting nautical clientèle from all of Lake Simcoe and the Trent Severn to come and experience Barrie. I got no reply from anyone on Council to my emailed suggestion. A short time later I had the chance to speak with then mayor Rob Hamilton about the idea. He told me Barrie’s marina facilities are adequate. I suggested to him we should make that our official slogan, “Barrie, striving to be adequate”, I got a blank stare in response and he kindly excused himself from our conversation. 

The road to adequacy is littered with safe minimalist planning and half baked ideas. If adequate is all Barrie will ever be then we don’t deserve the privilege of being located on one of the best and busiest waterfronts in Ontario. Hopefully the advent of a downtown hotel and convention centre will stimulate the adrenaline of City Council and our Mayor and allow them to see this is the perfect time and opportunity to venture beyond adequacy. 

Part of the approval for a Hotel and convention facility that will enjoy and benefit from having the most prime and convenient commercial proximity to our lakefront and marina has to be that they make a direct and ongoing financial investment in our public marina facilities allowing Barrie to build a world class Marina with a generous supply of transient boat slips that will help to make Barrie stand out the way it should.