An update on the Grey Road 1 Download issue has been published as a feature article in the Spring 2013 View Point (IVDAARA newsletter). Comments that we have received from our members can be found at the end of that feature article.

Grey Road 1 to be divided and downloaded in proposed Grey County Transportation Master Plan.

Grey County’s Transportation Master Plan, tabled at the County Council meetings of April 2 and 4, 2013, proposes to download a large number of County roads to the municipalities. In the IVDAARA area this will severely affect the stretch of Grey Road 1 where the majority of our members have their properties, from the Kemble Women’s Institute Lookout to the Wiarton-Keppel Airport, or in fact the entire Island View Drive section of GR1. The full consultant produced plan, which can be downloaded here, uses a point system to rate each road. The report does not tell us how many points the IVD section received, but it clearly shows that it does not meet the criteria to be maintained as County road.

Existing Grey County Roads (left picture) and Proposed Situation (right picture)

What does this mean for Grey Road 1 / Island View Drive ratepayers?

• After recently having had to change their postal address, ratepayers will have to go through this annoying process again.
• The sections of the road that are in bad shape may not be improved after downloading to Georgian Bluffs. This is a safety issue, due to no space for pedestrians and cyclists to move out of the way of vehicular traffic.
• Tourists will be less likely to discover this scenic road.
• Although downloading should be property tax neutral (lowered county tax and increased municipal tax), history shows that in practice this is not the case.

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