MESSAGE FROM

PRESIDENT CAL CONFER ..1 KEMBLE PARADE ........1

PHOTO CONTEST ........2 EVENTS / NOTICES .....2 DGR UPDATE .............3 SPEED LIMIT UPDATE ...3 BIOGRID UPDATE ........3 GAS PROJECT .............3

MEMBERSHIP REPORT .4 TREASURER REPORT ...4 WEBMASTER REPORT ..4 AIRPORT UPDATE .......4 INTERIM TAX BILLS .....4 Viewpoint

winter

President’s Message

T H E I S L A N D V I E W D R I V E A N D A R E A R A T E P A Y E R S ’

A S S O C I A T I O N W A S C R E A T E D I N 1 9 7 5

F O R T H E P U R P O S E O F B R I N G I N G T H E P E R M A N E N T

A N D S E A S O N A L R E S I D E N T S T O G E T H E R I N A N

I N F O R M A L , S O C I A L , M U T U A L L Y B E N E F I C I A L R E U N I O N .

I certainly hope all enjoyed the holidays and I extend my best wishes for a safe, prosperous, and healthy New

Year. We had a good response to our final fall photo contest and had the difficult task of trying to select winning entries.

Please take a minute to scan the various updates on the activities and issues facing our community:

the airport, biodigester, nuclear waste, speed limits on Grey Rd 1.

We’d like to hear from you.

With the new year comes a reminder that memberships expire at the end of June.

Dennis and Bonnie welcome all early renewals!

Check our website often as it changes frequently: www.IslandviewDrive Ratepayers.com

Winter 2015/2016 Island View Drive and Area

Ratepayers’ Association

Newsletter

KEMBLE CHRISTMAS PARADE Sunday December 13th was the date of an old time, small-town parade. Horses, farm animals, dogs, kids and adults dressed up and travelled down Kemble's main street via foot, wagon and non-motorized floats. Participants then visited with Santa and enjoyed refreshments.

Final Photo Contest

Congratulations to the winners of our Final Photo Contest — FALL 2015

SECOND PLACE: “Stormy Bay” Susan Crutcher

Thank you to all those who participated in our Photo Contests during 2015.

IVDAARA now has a library of seasonal photos to use on our website and newsletters.

We have also already used some of these photos to produce a poster and banner for our Association.

FIRST PLACE: “Maple Sky” Marie Simpson

E V E N T S & N O T I C E S June 4 & 5 Longest Yard Sale

from Balmy Beach to Wiarton

July 16 Annual General Meet-ing at Kemble United Church 9am social; 9:30am meeting starts

August 28 IVDAARA Annual Summer Potluck 5-7pm at CEDAR HILL Park; free; join us!

Sept 16 & 17 Concours d’Ele-gance rarely seen automobiles; www.cobblebeachconcours.com

September 24 Chili Cook-Off 11:30am to 2pm

October 7 Talent Auction at Kemble United Church; 6pm

February 9 Shrove Tuesday Pan-cake Supper; Kemble Sarawak Church; 5-7pm; $8 adults at door

March 19 Kemble Lions Briar in Wiarton; to play, contact Stan Beckett 376-2289 or Don Dailey 534-2862

April 9 Maple Syrup Tour

Spring Event is now in planning stages; check spring newsletter

Lions’ May Spring Dinner TBA New members welcome. Call Ron 519.376.9568

June 2 Kemble Church Beef

Dinner; 5pm

Oct. KWI Crokinole Tournament at Kemble United Church

Updates will be posted on www.IslandViewRatepayers.com

OTHER Collect Pop Cans for Shriners

Keith Davidson, 505129 Island View Drive DROP-OFF

Collect Pop Tabs for Wheel-

chairs; Owen Sound Legion

If you know of any events to be listed, please contact our web-master to have them updated www.IslandViewRatepayers.com

Photos from 2015 events (L to R): Chili Cookoff; Centennial Park Beautification; 40th IVDAARA Anniversary cake cutting with founding member, Betty Siegrist ; Annual Potluck Picnic and Canada Day at the Big Bay Dock.

In the 2015 Fall Newsletter, we asked for your thoughts on the ques-tion: Should IVDAARA petition the County for a reduction in speed from 80 km to 70 or 60 km/hr along those sections of Island View Drive that are presently 80 km/hr? This item ini-tially came up on our spring Mem-bership Survey.

We had little feedback but the fol-lowing are the responses received to date: some IVDAARA members were in favour of maintaining the status quo i.e. keeping the maximum at 80 km/hr. One issue raised was the concern that lowering the speed lim-it may further encourage the County idea that Grey Road 1 be download-ed from a County Road to a Town-

ship Road. Most responses favoured reducing the 80 km/hr portions to 70 km/hr for safety reasons, and leaving as is those sections that are present-ly marked at 50 or 60 km/hr (mainly at Big Bay and Oxenden corners).

However, separate from this, the Georgian Bluffs Mayor (now the Grey County Warden) indicated in a Coun-cil meeting that he is working with the County to lower the speed limit on 'certain sections' of Grey Rd 1 (Island View Drive) from 80 to 70 km/hr.

Further information, as we become aware of it, will be listed under the “latest news” tab on www.islandviewratepayers.com

Updates Island View Drive Speed Limit

Background:

An article on the proposed DGR plan by

the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to

bury nuclear waste in the bedrock of Bruce

County was previously posted on is-

landviewratepayers.com and also in the

2015 Summer Newsletter.

A federal Joint Review Panel comprised of

representatives from the federal environ-

ment department and the Canadian Nuclear

Safety Commission green-lighted the OPG

plan. Comments from the public were en-

couraged and accepted up till September 1,

2015. At that point, a decision from the

government as to accept or reject the pan-

el's recommendation was supposed to be

issued on December 2, 2015.

Update:

However, with the changes in the federal

government and environment minister, the

deadline for that decision is now March 1,

2016. From the CEAA website: "The Gov-

ernor in Council, under subsection 54(4) of

the Canadian Environmental Assessment

Act, 2012, has extended the time limit for

the issuance of the Decision Statement for

the proposed DGR project, by ninety

days."

Additionally it is important to remember

that OPG insists that Saugeen Ojibway

Nation (SON) approval is necessary to pro-

ceed. The SON has stated it is not in

agreement with the Joint Review Panel's

recommendation.

Deep Geological Repository (DGR) for Nuclear Waste

GAS PROJECT

At this point there is no update to report on the proposed local Gas Project.

At our Annual Meeting last July Mayor Barfoot expressed a desire to seek a partner to assume operation of the BioGrid facility, make investments to expand the capabilities of the facility, and to make the operation profita-ble, and for the Municipalities to receive a share of the profits. A Request For Proposal (RFP) to this effect was issued last summer and closed August 20th. While 10 or 11 potential respondents attended a mandatory site visit last July, only one response was received prior to close. That response from SusGlobal was evaluated and found to be technically deficient receiv-ing a score of 26 out of 50. A score of 37.5 had been deemed to be the minimum accepted.

Rather than re-issue the RFP, at its December 18th meeting the BioGrid Joint Board directed the Negotiating Committee to negotiate an agree-ment with SusGlobal exclusively. While the Directors of your Association support efforts to improve the financial viability of the BioGrid facility, we are concerned that the process underway may not result in a favourable Agreement being negotiated and are requesting that the Township employ competent Legal, Technical, and Financial to assist the negotiating com-mittee and have identified numerous items which we believe should be reflected in a final Agreement. Our submission to the BioGrid Joint Board can be found on www.IslandviewRatepayers.com under “Latest News” tab.

BioGrid (aka biodigester)

Y E A R - E N D R E P O R T S . . . TREASURER’S REPORT

Current bank balance: $2,707.78

Expenses: $163.03 Postage/Mailing $1,013.13 Newsletter/Web Costs $135.60 Website Backup $81.13 Potluck & Supplies $35.31 Kemble Parade

Total Expenses: $1,428.20

WEBMASTER’S REPORT

Thanks to everyone who has commented on how much they like the look and feel of our new updated website!

Website links to new Treasurer and Membership have been changed on the website. An update of the online Member-ship form is in process.

The finalists for each seasons’ Photo Contest were chosen. Those winning photos will be uploaded to replace the cur-rent slideshow on the front page of the website.

Community events section has been kept up-to-date with items removed as they occur.

If you know of upcoming events over the fall/winter months, please let me know so they can be added to the calendar as soon as possible.

THIS IS YOUR WEBSITE ... If you have suggestions, articles to post, are aware of community events or notice any broken links, please contact us at webmaster@islandviewratepayers.com

Grey County Council in January asked staff to prepare a report on the local impacts of this invasive plant which spreads quickly causing native species to die off by releasing a toxin into the soil. Phragmites are plugging drains and ditches, threatening agricultural land, urban proper-ties and shorelines. Provincial government agencies recently announced they are also working to tackle the problem by looking at some options to get the weed's spread under control.

Interim Tax Bills

It’s that time of year again. INTERIM TAX

BILLS are scheduled to mailed by the Town-

ship of Georgian Bluffs February 1st.

One-quarter of the amount of the 2015 final

tax notice is due February 24th and again

April 24th.

Georgian Bluffs issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) labelled PROVISIONS FOR FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AT THE WIARTON KEPPEL INTER-NATIONAL AIRPORT which closed November 24th.

The intent of the RFP is to obtain an economic impact study, assess the financial feasibility of the airport, identify revenue enhancement opportunities, and provide the frame-work for a Business Plan.

Responses have been evaluated and a potential respondent to the RFP identi-fied; however no contract has been awarded as this is contingent on receipt of a grant, a decision on which is due mid-January.

The Township applied for a Small Com-munities Fund grant to fund the cost of expanding the runway and enhancing lighting at the airport. Notice of rejec-tion was received January 5th.

Airport Update

MEMBERSHIP REPORT

Current membership is: 286 members

Past due as of June 30, 2015: 91 members

Past due as of June 30, 2014: 12 members

Members are encouraged to keep

your membership up-to-date and

stay on our mailing list.

For convenience, you now have the

option of paying several years at a

time and online via e-transfer.

To pay by cheque

mail or drop off to:

IVDAARA

504859 Grey Road 1

Kemble, ON N0H 1S0

THANK YOU!

COUNCIL

MEETINGS

Your attendance as a

Ratepayer makes a

difference!

Show your support with

your presence at council

meetings. Ask questions.

Get answers.

Councillors need and

want your input and

suggestions.

Remember, they are

there to represent YOU

and cannot do so without

feedback.

Phragmite Update