Gray County Considers Major Road Replacement/Download

Gray County is considering a comprehensive road swap and download agreement with its member communities.

At its Oct. 10 meeting, the council received a staff report from the county’s Urban Road and Road Exchange Task Force. The report recommends the county begin negotiations for a multimillion-dollar download and replacement of roads throughout the region.

A download would mean the county transferring ownership, road maintenance, repairs and reconstruction responsibility for select roads currently owned and maintained by the county to a municipality.

If implemented, the plan would transfer 31.23 miles of county roads in urban centers to eight of Gray’s nine communities. Only the community of Georgian Bluffs would not receive a county road as a result of the move.

The report also recommends replacing several county and sub-municipal roads in rural areas.

County staff also recommends that lower-level municipalities that regain county roads under the plan receive financial assistance from the county for road maintenance over a period of 10 years.

Staff stressed that road downloads would require new agreements with each sub-municipality to proceed.

Staff explained that the purpose of the city road download is to bring county roads, under which local water and wastewater infrastructure resides, back into the control of local municipalities. Staff noted that this has caused frustration with the public and local communities over the years.

The county has been working on improving its road network for more than a decade, although little has changed in that time.

“This has been going on for quite some time,” said Pat Hoy, the county’s transportation director.

Under the proposal, these communities would receive the following number of road miles from the county:

• The Blue Mountains – 5.65 km
• Chatsworth – 0.37 km
• Gray Highlands – 4.15 km
• Hanover – 10.44 km
• Meaford – 3.62 km
• Owen Sound – 14.94 km
• South Gate – 2.73 km
• West Gray – 9.33 km

The report estimates the county would send $23,252,741 in assistance to municipalities over 10 years to cover the costs of taking over the roads. Including (numbers vary from year to year and would gradually decrease over the ten years):

• The Blue Mountains – $2,598,661
• Chatsworth – $154,647
• Gray Highlands – $2,000,212
• Hanover – $4,715,999
• Meaford – $1,438,045
• Owen Sound – $7,260,040
• Southgate – $1,328,144
• West Gray – $3,756,994

Hoy said the financial numbers are projections and could change depending on agreements between each municipality and the county.

In addition to downloading urban roads, the report also recommends a road swap between the county and several municipalities for roads in rural areas. By swapping roads, the district would take over local road sections that could be better integrated into the district system. The municipalities would then take over parts of the district roads in exchange.

The swap would impact Southgate (Concession 11 for part of Gray Road 14), West Gray (Concession 12 for part of Gray Road 9), Chatsworth/West Gray (Bentick-Sullivan town line for part of Gray Road 25) and Georgian Bluffs and Chatsworth (the county would take over Georgian Bluffs Concession 5 and Chatsworth Concession 6).

The report estimates that the municipal downloads would save the county $1,007,607 per year in operating costs. On the other hand, the land swap would cost the county $2,155,880 annually in operating and capital costs.

In total, the plan would cost the county $1,148,273 per year.

“That’s kind of our starting point. We think that’s a relatively reasonable number,” Hoy said.

Gray Highlands Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen questioned why the urban download included financial support from the county over 10 years to support the transition while the rural road swap did not.

Deputy CAO Randy Scherzer explained that in rural areas the county is proposing a road swap, while in urban areas it is a direct transfer of authority.

Gray Highlands Mayor Paul McQueen said sorting out the financial details was key to moving the project forward.

“The bottom line is the budget. It comes down to the bottom line, what our taxpayers can afford,” he said.

Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy said the county has been dealing with the issue for many years and it is time to do something about the matter.

“None of us will ever be 100 percent happy,” Boddy said. “You have to think about the bigger picture. It’s been 12 years, it’s time to move it forward.”

The council ultimately voted to adopt and receive the report. However, a clause in the resolution that directed staff to include the plan’s estimated $1.1 million cost increase in the proposed 2025 budget was removed, and council members held that in light of the discussions and negotiations that remain are necessary for happening prematurely with the local municipalities.