SooToday received the following open letter from the Community Voice Committee on the Dean Lake Bridge issued to the Huron Shores council, staff, residents, and visitors:
In fulfillment of our civic responsibility, the Community Voices Committee (CVC) has spent months reviewing engineering reports, feasibility studies, and municipal documents. We have submitted over 80 reasoned questions and clarifying statements to Council, spanning 6 critical areas of focus:
- Engineering and Design: testing, feasibility of options, construction constraints, timelines, and impacts.
- Environmental and Regulatory: species-at-risk, wetlands, fish habitat, permitting timelines, and impacts.
- Land Ownership and Access: forced-road status, acquisition processes timelines, and impacts.
- Emergency Services: incident-level data, cumulative risk, single-access vulnerability.
- Financial and Funding: grant and funding application strategies, levy concerns, reserves, and impacts.
- Municipal Process: evaluation, financial, bylaws, transparency, accountability, and timelines.
These questions were not speculative. They were grounded in the information provided by consultants, engineers, municipal staff, and Council itself. We asked these questions and made these statements to both inform and support responsible decision-making.
The CVC has done this work not as critics, but as collaborators. We have approached the issues with discipline, clarity, and respect for the gravity of what Council, and our entire community, are evaluating. And now we ask Council to match that same level of diligence and commitment.
The CVC asks Council to acknowledge a critical truth: Council does not currently have sufficient information today to make a responsible, informed decision about the long-term future of the bridge. To proceed without that information would be reckless and a breach of public trust.
The environmental constraints are unresolved. The land ownership issues are unconfirmed. The funding picture is still evolving. The feasibility studies are preliminary. The emergency services data is incomplete. To make a final decision now would not be leadership. It would be abandonment.
The CVC asks Council to commit to a process of proactive and informed decision-making instead of reactive and short-cited action: It is time to openly acknowledge that restoring access to the Dean Lake Bridge for the next two years is not a decision about its long-term future - it is a decision about the community’s present safety, connectivity, and dignity. Restoring access is not optional but a foundational prerequisite that will:
- Allow time to complete all necessary studies, consultations, and evaluations.
- Allow time to take actual steps to secure the funding we KNOW is out there (for any of the options).
- Ensure safe, reliable access during the study period and right up to construction (no matter the option).
The CVC asks Council to form an Ad-Hoc Committee: We have made this suggestion countless times since January and Council has offered no response.
Formation of an Ad-Hoc Committee just makes sense. The committee would include municipal representatives, technical experts, and community members. Its role would be to
- Collect and verify critical information.
- Engage stakeholders (residents, government, regulatory agencies, and neighboring Nations).
- Evaluate all options transparently and prepare recommendations for Council’s consideration. This is how complex decisions should be made: collaboratively, transparently, and with integrity.
If Council truly values transparency and collaboration - as stated in its own engagement materials - then forming an Ad-Hoc Committee should be a natural step. Refusing to do so and refusing to speak to why not raises fundamental questions about whether Council is committed to an informed, visible, and accountable process. And it raises questions about Council’s wisdom.
And to our neighbours across Huron Shores: This is not just about Dean Lake. This is about how Council conducts itself. The approach taken here - the delays, the deflections, the divisive framing - will one day arrive in your neighbourhood. Accountability is not a local issue. It is a civic principle. And it must be upheld everywhere.
The current narrative - which is that any and all options will be funded on the levy-backs of constituents, is both misleading and manipulative. It was introduced in the forward-facing engagement materials about the future of the Dean Lake Bridge and then reinforced with commentary about levy shortfalls and inflation.
This framing and narrative were intentional, strategic, and divisive. It has created fear, resentment, and confusion. It has also undermined public support for restoring access and distracted from the real issue: the urgent need to protect the community entire while Council gathers the information it needs to make a responsible long-term decision.
We remind Council of its own words, posted after the October 22 Public Session:
“Your participation and input play a vital role in helping Council and staff better understand community priorities and concerns as we move forward. The Municipality appreciates the continued interest, patience, and feedback from our community as we work together toward an informed and sustainable path forward.”
The CVC certainly agrees. But participation must be met with responsiveness. Input must be met with thoughtful consideration and measured action. And sustainability must begin with accountability. We ask Council to commit to a timeline for restoring access to the Dean Lake Bridge, thereby setting a reasonable clock to gathering the information it needs to make informed, responsible, and sustainable decisions.
We have done our part. We now ask Council to do its part. And we ask everyone who visits our community or calls Huron Shores home - what do truth, community, and leadership mean to you?
Community Voice Committee