Barrie should be held accountable for every rezoning it makes, if it gets more land from Innisfil, says Simcoe County Warden Tony Guergis.

In fact, the province should make the county a region and force the city to rejoin it, he said.

“It’s tough for me to listen to the city say they need more lands for employment and you look at the Molson lands rezoned for commercial purposes. If the city wants to be the retail capital, then let’s recognize that in a regional capacity and support it,” said Guergis.

The city, however, had fought a rezoning application to allow Park Place – a mixed-use development that includes big box and speciality retail – in a 2006 Ontario Municipal Board hearing; the city lost and was forced to rezone the land.

“If they choose to take lands again and rezone them, what mechanism is in place for others to say this is about finding a sustainable solution? There should be a regional system in place,” he said.

As a separated city, Barrie is what’s known as a single-tier municipality; under the Municipal Act, the city has authority to plan and rezone lands. The province approves its official plan (OP), however.

Other than Barrie and Orillia, all other county municipalities, by contrast, are lower-tier municipalities; any Official Plan (OP), zoning or rezoning applications must be vetted by the county.

Guergis said the county is the obvious and logical choice to oversee Barrie’s actions, as it  provides health and human services to not only its 16 member municipalities, but also to Barrie and Orillia. The county, he added, led the region’s municipalities – all except Barrie – through a growth management process in 2007 and 2008.

The province, however, has raised concerns with how the county has spread future population growth and with its plans to create two industrial zones along Highway 400 in Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury. The province has also challenged Innisfil’s official plan, which implements the county vision, and the matter has been referred to the Ontario Municipal Board.

“I’d like to ask the premier and ministers responsible to go back to their earlier direction and ask the county to lead an area-wide growth plan and have the City of Barrie elected officials come back to work on it,” Guergis said.