After meeting for more than 13 hours, Hamilton city councillors have tabled a key LRT report for another three weeks.
A vote in regards to the updated route design and environmental assessment of the controversial light rail transit project is now expected on April 19th.
Ward 8’s Terry Whitehead moved the motion arguing that he needed more time to study the 14 hundred page report.
Councillors appeared poised to defer a decision on the Bay Street stop until the April.19th meeting, but instead rejected the addition in an 8-7 vote, despite a request from the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.
Project Manager Paul Johnson also confirmed during Tuesday’s meeting, a significant increase to 86, in the number of properties that will have to be expropriated and demolished prior to LRT construction.
Approval of the updated design plan, which includes a number of changes from a 2011 version, is one of the last critical steps before Metrolinx can put the $1 billion project to tender.
Design changes since the original document include stopping the route at the Queenston Traffic Circle rather than Eastgate Square and a new maintenance and storage facility in the west end near Longwood Road.
The marathon meeting started with city councillors hearing from over 40 public delegations, with both supporters and opponents of the rapid transit project out in force.
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The opponents include Cheryl St. James, the operator of a business along the proposed LRT line, who argues that moving forward without knowing the operating costs would be “irresponsible.”
Opponents also question the projected benefits of the project: they fear affected businesses will not be able to survive construction, they oppose the loss of traffic lanes along King Street and they insist the LRT line doesn’t connect enough “destination points.”
Raise The Hammer’s Ryan McGreal was among the supporters noting that new higher density, mixed-use developments along the transit corridor are needed to put Hamilton on a sustainable path.
READ MORE: Hamilton LRT: some city councillors push for poll on the project
He adds that if the city doesn’t move forward on this issue, “we will be remembered and ridiculed as the city that threw away its own future.”
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