Grey County councillors have supported a proposed road transfer arrangement with lower tier municipalities, but the plan still needs formal approval.
At council’s committee of the whole meeting Thursday, the majority of councillors supported transferring $42 million to lower tiers and shifting responsibility for about 89km of mainly urban roads from Grey County to municipalities.
Staff say it would allow municipalities to make local decisions more quickly within their urban areas.
About 35km of municipal roads would be uploaded to the County to pay for and maintain.
A May 26th report to the Urban Road and Road Exchange Task Force says, “One of the recommendations stemming from this was to review the County road network and address competing roles and functions of County Roads with local municipalities. It recognized that in more urban areas across the County, the roles of two tiers of municipal governance created multiple administrative layers on roads serving primarily local needs.”
Deputy CAO Niall Lobley explains, “It’s really all about efficient government and looking to be as effective and efficient in terms of using taxpayer dollars as we can.”
Lobley says, “The roads that are coming to the County are to try and make sure that we’re building a good connected county road system that can get people, goods and traffic from one place to another across larger distances and between communities as efficiently as possible.”
He adds, “The roads that are going to the lower tier municipalities are largely roads that have got services that you would typically expect to find in an urban area. So they’ve got things that the municipality operate like sidewalks and streetlights, and under the ground they’ve got water pipes and sewer lines. So rather than having two levels of government manage those roads, the idea is to try and make sure that just one government body is looking after each set of roads.”
Lobley says, “If the municipality ever needs to repair something under the road they have to ask the County for permission and we have to give them a permit and then they have to go out and make sure that any repairs to the surface are done to our standards. So really this avoids all of that.”
CountyWarden Andrea Matrosovs says, “Where we have landed in discussion is the result of careful consideration of not just the County perspective, but also the input from local municipal staff. This dialogue has been an essential foundation in the years of work in preparation of these decisions. Transferring roads will have several benefits for residents, businesses, and visitors, and municipalities. These changes will give local municipalities more control to respond quickly to road issues in their urban areas, making infrastructure repair and upgrades more efficient and making it easier for the public to understand who to contact to report an issue or request a permit,” adding, “By re-aligning certain rural roads, Grey County will have responsibility for local roads that are already functioning like a regional road.”
Urban Road Transfers:
3.5 km of Grey Road 13 and 2.1 km of Grey Road 113 in Thornbury (Town of the Blue Mountains)
2.1 km of Grey Road 12 in Markdale and 2 km of Grey Road 4 in Flesherton (Grey Highlands)
4.3 km of Grey Road 4, 5.4 km of Grey Road 10 in Hanover
6.1 km of Grey Road 28 in the Town of Hanover/West Grey
1.1 km of Grey Road 7 and 2.1 km of Grey Road 12 in Meaford
6.4 km of Grey Road 5 in Owen Sound
5.9 km of Grey Road 15 in Owen Sound
3.1 km of Grey Road 1 in Owen Sound
2.7 km of Grey Road 9 in Dundalk (Township of Southgate)
2.7 km of Grey Road 4 and 0.5 km of Grey Road 27 in Durham (West Grey)
0.6 km of Grey Road 9 and 2.3 km of Grey Road 10 in Neustadt (West Grey)
2.2 km of Grey Road 3 in Ayton (West Grey)
0.4 km of Grey Road 40 in Chatsworth
Rural Road Transfers:
Grey County will assume ownership of Southgate Sideroad 11 in exchange for a portion of Grey Road 14.
Grey County will assume ownership of the Bentinck-Sullivan Townline in exchange for section of Grey Road 25 (between Scone and Grey Road 3).
Grey County will assume ownership of Concession 5 Georgian Bluffs (former Derby) and Concession 6 in Chatsworth (former Sullivan).
Grey County will assume ownership of a section of Concession 12 in West Grey between Highway 6 and the Grey Bruce County Line in exchange for sections of Grey Road 9 between Highway 6 and Ayton, and between Grey Road 3 and Neustadt.