Do you enjoy relaxing at Centennial Beach in the summer?  Do you take your kids to the big playground at Barrie’s Waterfront?  Perhaps you drive down to the Marina and go for a jog with your dog?  You might want to read up on how these new parking passes work!

I’ve been following the development of a program to mail out parking passes to residents of Barrie, and that states that non-residents of Barrie will have to start paying to park.  I assumed that this meant residents were able to park ANYWHERE along the waterfront.

Here’s the deal.  Parking passes will allow City of Barrie residents to continue to park in lots around Centennial Beach, the Marina, Southshore Centre, Minet’s Point, Tyndale Park, Johnson’s Beach and Lakeshore Drive between Simcoe Street and Minet’s Point Rd.   The main difference to keep in mind is that we will ALL need to PAY to park in three key lots, which are being described as ‘downtown’ lots, not ‘waterfront’ lots.  These lots are located at the Lakeshore, North Marina and Spirit Catcher lots.  I would recommend reading the articles in yesterday’s Barrie Advance and Barrie Examiner for full details.