Beachfront redevelopment moves into next phase

The Town of Wasaga Beach is formally inviting short-listed developers in good standing with the town to submit proposals to develop town land at the main beachfront.

At a special council meeting today, council authorized staff to issue Request for Proposal documents to the developers, short-listed through a Request for Expressions of Interest process last year.

“Today marks a significant milestone for our community as we officially move into the next phase of the beachfront redevelopment process,” Mayor Nina Bifolchi said. “Council is excited to see what plans developers have to revitalize this important part of our community.”

The short-listed developers are as follows:

1. Slate Asset Management LP
2. Fram Building Group
3. Connox Inc.
4. Seventy-Five Years Inc.
5. Pozeg Construction
6. Baycliffe Communities

Developers are required to submit their proposals by February 2021. An evaluation team will then review and score the submissions. The evaluation team will consist of Mayor Nina Bifolchi, CAO George Vadeboncoeur, director of public works Kevin Lalonde, and director of planning and economic initiatives Doug Herron.

The town is retaining a “fairness monitor” to ensure the fairness of the evaluation process. This individual will attend evaluation team meetings during the scoring of proposals and related closed session council presentations.

Each proponent is required to make a presentation to council in closed session and this will be subject to scoring by members of council.

Scores from the evaluation team and council will make up the total score. 

The town anticipates the selection of preferred developers will take place in April 2021 and that the approval of developers and their specific projects will take place in July 2021.

“Redeveloping our beachfront is a priority that council identified at the start of this term. I am happy to share with residents that we are one-step closer to creating a new and vibrant neighbourhood,” Mayor Bifolchi said.

Background

In March 2017, council approved The Downtown Master Plan.

The plan identified several steps that needed to happen for the successful implementation of the plan.

The Downtown Master Plan recommended issuing a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEOI) document to developers wishing to build at the beachfront. Following the RFEOI process, developers would be short-listed to participate in a Request for Proposals exercise.

In the summer of 2019, the town did issue an RFEOI and in October 2019, six developers were short-listed. Since then, staff have worked with consulting firm Deloitte to prepare the RFP documents and the related review process.

For more information, see the latest staff report.

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