September 18, 2015
Ontario

West Road reclassification rejected by Bruce County council

By Jordan MacKinnon on September 18, 2015 | blackburnnews.com

South Bruce Peninsula council has fallen short in its bid to have the West Road reclassified in the county official plan.

Bruce County council defeated a proposed amendment on a 7-1 vote that would have seen the 29-kilometre stretch of road lowered from a collector road to a local road with ownership retained by the county.

South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson says the amendment would have forbidden the West Road from being widened from 66-feet to 100-feet during reconstruction that has been in the works for a number of years.

Jackson contends a widened West Road would provide a corridor for wind turbine developers, which she believes have been looking at establishing wind farms on the Bruce Peninsula.

The West Road runs between Oliphant and Ferndale and is currently being studied by the county as part of an environmental assessment.

Northern Bruce Peninsula Mayor Milt McIver says he’s not ready to buy the wind turbine argument, suggesting that if the provincial government wants wind turbines on the Bruce Peninsula, they will make it happen, even though Bruce County and its municipalities are all unwilling hosts to wind turbine projects.

“They seem to be using the wind development as a deterrent for the West Road and I have not seen any evidence to date that would indicate to me that the West Road was the number one corridor for a turbine,” says McIver.

Jackson says her community is firmly against widening the West Road and they will continue to make that clear during the environmental assessment process.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/09/18/west-road-reclassification-rejected-by-bruce-county-council/