Kincardine council has no business revisiting Great Gate Debate

Well, you knew it was going to happen.

Put together a relatively new Kincardine council, add a three-day snowstorm, and of course, have the north end of the B-line (Bruce County Road 23) closed due to blowing and drifting snow.

It's the perfect storm to, yet again, one more time, just for good measure, resurrect the Great Gate Debate – that long-discussed, never-ending, flogging-the-dead-horse debate about whether to open the access gate between Upper Lorne Beach Road and Victoria Street in Inverhuron.

And it doesn't really matter how many times council discusses it, how many motorists complain that they have just as much right as a Bruce Power worker to use that access road, or how many people are crazy enough to leave their homes and try to travel from Inverhuron to Tiverton or Kincardine or Port Elgin and find themselves unable to drive home because of closed roads.

The answer to the question of opening that access gate remains the same – NO!

A year ago, the Kincardine Record laid out the situation very clearly in an editorial which was published January, 2018.

At that point, the council of the day had, in fact, dropped the ball and unfortunately, allowed the issue to flounder for two years without a clear decision on whether to open the access gate when both Highway 21 and the B-line (north of Lorne Beach Road) were closed due to heavy snow, high wind and poor visibility.

It's interesting to note that access to this emergency route comes up for debate only in the winter time when people get stuck at work or in Kincardine and want to drive home.

That is the crux of the matter.

The answer should still be “no.”

The following is a concise history of the whole Great Gate Debate, and if you re-read it carefully, you'll find that nothing has changed in the intervening 12 months - it remains as ridiculous as it was then:

A policy was drawn up 11 years ago to allow the gate to be opened for Category A workers at Bruce Power to get to the nuclear plant, and for emergency service vehicles to respond to calls, if Highway 21 and the B-line were closed due to poor driving conditions. This was in direct response to a difficult winter when roads were closed for days and nuclear operators were stuck at the plant without relief.

In 2010, a delegation came to council asking that the gate be opened for the public to use as a safer route when the roads were closed. The answer was “no.”

In 2015, the debate came back to the council table, urging a change of heart, following yet another major Bruce County winter, fraught with road closures.

At that time, the chief administrative officer said the stakeholders, including the OPP, Bruce Power and municipal staff, had reviewed the 2008 policy, and all agreed that it worked well and should remain as written, as an emergency route for Bruce Power employee buses and emergency services.

At that time, staff said the roadway, itself, is not designed for high volumes of traffic, particularly in the winter, because it is narrow and has blind corners; plus, the road width on Victoria Street does not allow vehicles to pass a plow or fire truck which could lead to a hazardous road blockage in adverse conditions.

Despite this information, at the meeting Sept. 2, 2015, council defeated a motion to confirm that policy, leaving the whole matter in limbo.

In a recorded vote, mayor Anne Eadie, and councillors Andrew White, Maureen Couture and Laura Haight were in favour, while deputy mayor Jacqueline Faubert, and councillors Mike Leggett, Randy Roppel, Gordon Campbell and Linda McKee were against.

During that debate, Faubert asked again why the gate couldn't be opened when just Highway 21 was closed. She wanted to explore the option of fixing the road, the cost and the liability. Couture said people should just use the B-line if the highway is closed, or stay at home.

The cost and the need were debated, and then the motion was defeated, leaving the original 2008 policy in place, and no direction for staff.

Fast-forward to January, 2018, at the council meeting when Campbell requested this issue come back for even more debate. He said there should be public access through the gate in the winter, particularly since the north end of the B-line is so treacherous.

In June, 2018, public works director Adam Weishar told council that the stakeholders – Bruce Power, the South Bruce OPP, Bruce County, and municipal staff – met May 3 to review the policy. The same arguments were made in support of keeping the gate closed except for emergencies.

Bruce Power is concerned that staff will more likely drive personal vehicles in inclement weather rather than take the bus system, which could lead to a high volume of traffic; and the policy is used to transport essential staff, mutual aid, or essential commodity only.

The OPP said opening the gate would mean a high volume of traffic within a residential area; OPP resources needed to enforce posted speed limits may be limited during weather events; and the high volume of traffic on a cottage road could lead to congestion and impede emergency service vehicles.

Bruce County supports the original policy, and noted that in the summer, it was installing stationary road-closed signs at the corner of Lorne Beach Road and the B-line, which would be activated remotely.

Municipal staff said there have been no improvements to Victoria Street. The design and contours of the road are a concern to the municipal engineer who has said it is inappropriate for these types of roads to become major residential or minor collector roads handling high volumes of traffic on a regular basis.

In addition, staff said the road width does not allow for a snowplow or fire truck to pass an oncoming vehicle which could lead to a hazardous road blockage in adverse conditions; and the route ceases to become an “emergency” access road if large volumes of traffic restrict access for emergency services.

Staff recommended no change to the current policy at this time, and council agreed by a 5-2 vote.

Now, fast-forward to Feb. 6, 2019, and yet again, we have a councillor asking that the Great Gate Debate be brought back to the table for one more flogging.

For what? The horse is dead, the issue is over, the decision has been made. Why do we keep resurrecting this?

You don't have to be an engineer to know that a rural road through a residential neighbourhood is going to require millions of dollars to fix up to proper standards for thousands of vehicles to use.

You don't have to be a soothsayer to know that if you open the gate and allow public access during the winter, vehicles are going to get stuck in the snow along that section of road, then you have no emergency access for either Bruce Power buses or fire trucks.

You don't have to be a genius to know that this is a bad idea. The people who live along that road don't want it. The police, fire, ambulance, and Bruce Power don't want it. And, the motorists don't need it.

If council truly believes in safety first, it will leave that emergency access alone, and put an end to this insufferable Great Gate Debate, once and for all.

A year ago, a resident of Upper Lorne Beach brought concerns about people driving on unsafe routes to get home in a storm and asked that the gate be opened when the barricade goes up on the B-line at Lorne Beach Road.

Here's an idea: Have the OPP return to what it did years ago - put up the road-closed barricade just north of the Kincardine hospital on Queen Street. No access to Lorne Beach Road, no access to the gate, no problem.