Council for the Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula have deferred a decision on whether to reopen Cabot Head Road.
The road that leads to the Cabot Head Lighthouse was washed out and damaged seven years ago, and since then, it's been closed.
Temporary access has been granted to user groups like the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory and friends of the lighthouse, but this year council is seeking a more concrete operational policy to move forward with.
The municipality brought in consultants Clerks on Call to conduct public engagement on how residents would like to see the road controlled. The feedback included 900 survey responses and 200 open house participants.
Michelle Casavecchia-Somers and Michelle Smibert from the firm presented to council this week, saying the results showed that protecting landscape was a priority.
"What we heard the strongest, the loudest, was that individuals wanted that controlled access," said Casavecchia-Somers.
That approach could include a multi-use trail for pedestrians and cyclists, while continuing with the controlled vehicle access. Respondents also noted that regardless of the path forward, they'd like to see stronger enforcement.
Council received the feedback, but members said they weren't ready to make a call yet.
"I've sort of started my own presentation on what I think would be proper, but I couldn't do it today," said Deputy Mayor Rod Anderson. "I'm going to suggest that we use the next few weeks to get our act together because it is fairly important that we can all give our viewpoints... time is not of the essence here."
Mayor Milt McIver said he would be away from the next council meeting, so the matter was deferred until June 8.
