Grey County and the Town of The Blue Mountains will continue to work closely together to address road infrastructure challenges in the Craigleith area.
At its meeting on Dec. 14, county council approved a resolution brought forward by The Blue Mountains Mayor Andrea Matrosovs that called on the county and the town to continue to collaborate to address infrastructure concerns arising out of the growth rate in that area of the county.
The resolution asked county staff to continue to have meetings and communication with The Blue Mountains, Simcoe County and the Ministry of Transportation in order to find solutions to needed road upgrades, traffic management issues and the desire for increased active transportation in and around Craigleith including: Grey Road 19, Grey Road 21 and roundabouts planned in the area.
“The entire area is an intricate fabric of current transportation and future transportation and temporary transportation routes when things get disrupted,” said Matrosovs. “It is an integrated movement and pattern that spans both the town roads, as well as our country roads and then we have our Simcoe County neighbours coming right up to that area.”
Matrosovs said residential growth has continued in the Craigleith area and the nature of that growth has changed. Developments once envisioned as second homes or weekend ski chalets are now homes to full-time residents. This has created tremendous pressure on the road system in that area.
She also said growth continues for the area, with The Blue Mountains council having recently heard about plans by Blue Mountain Resort to build a significant employee housing development and another developer’s proposal for 1,200 units in the area.
Matrosovs noted that her resolution called for “continued” dialogue between the various parties and called that a “critical point.”
“I don’t want it to be thought that we haven't been communicating,” she said, praising the ongoing efforts of the county and town to work together to address the issues.
Pat Hoy, the county’s director of transportation, welcomed the resolution and said it “reinforces” the communications that have been ongoing.
“It’s such a complicated project. We know it’s going to be a big project,” said Hoy. “Traffic has increased as predicted. There are new developments coming on all the time. It’s a matter of coordinating all these projects to get to the best design.”
County council unanimously approved the resolution from Matrosovs. The text of the resolution can be found on the agenda for the meeting here.
