August 30, 2017
Ontario
Ontario
Contentious West Road project issue; Public meeting on road project that some fear will lead to 300 turbine wind farm
By Claire McCormack | Bayshore Broadcasting | August 29, 2017 | www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca
By Claire McCormack | Bayshore Broadcasting | August 29, 2017 | www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca
Two public meetings will be held on the future of the West Road in South Bruce Peninsula.
The first is scheduled for Tuesday, August 29th, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Lion’s Head and District Community Centre.
The second meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 30th from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Wiarton arena on Taylor Street.
Bruce County is doing an Environmental Assessment for the West Road to decide what needs to be done to either rehabilitate, reconstruct, do spot work, or do nothing with the 29km stretch of road.
West Road runs between Oliphant (Bruce Road 13) and the Ferndale Road (Bruce Road 9) in South Bruce Peninsula and Northern Bruce Peninsula.
Mayor Janice Jackson says it includes Howdenvale Road, Huron Road and Daddy Weir Road and travels north of Oliphant through Red Bay and Howdenvale and up to Ferndale.
Jackson says the County will present to the public what it’s found so far and what its potential plans might be, and the public will be able to comment.
Jackson says the question of what to do with the West Road has become a contentious issue because Bruce County is thinking of widening it to 100 feet, but Jackson says while that is a standard width for a county road, it also happens to be the width required to truck turbines up the peninsula. She says there’s a proposal for a 300 turbine wind farm.
For Jackson, who notes South Bruce Peninsula has declared itself an ‘unwilling host’ in a resolution to the county and the province, widening the road is too risky.
She notes the road winds around cottage areas now, and to reconstruct it would also mean straightening it out, which she believes carries with it the possible expropriation of land on about 13 properties.
Jackson says the West Road needs about $5 million in rehabilitation work, but feels reconstruction brings with it the risk of it becoming a highway for a wind farm, ‘We just don’t want to open up a can of worms,” says Jackson.
For more information on the West Road go to: http://www.brucecounty.on.ca/highways/west-road-environmental-assessment