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March 2, 2004
CITIZEN INPUT NOT WELCOME
Following the rules apparently doesn't get you anywhere when in comes to City Council and the Red Hill Creek Expressway. David Cohen, a former Dundas councillor, formally applied to speak to today's (March 2) Planning and Development Committee about an agenda item on the economic development implications of the expressway. He followed the rules laid out in the City's procedural bylaw, but the chair of the committee, Councillor Bill Kelly, decided Cohen would not be allowed to speak.
Kelly made the decision himself, even though the procedural bylaw requires a decision by the full committee. When other councillors challenged his decision, Kelly appeared ignorant of the proper procedure and made no mention that Cohen had asked in advance. Councillors Brian McHattie and Andrea Horwath forced a vote on the matter, but were defeated by Councillors Maria Pearson, Murray Ferguson and Kelly.
The expressway study originally came to City Council last July but was "tabled" without discussion. Councillor Dave Braden fought a long battle to have the report discussed, but the item was repeatedly put off until today.
Hemson Consulting was hired to do the study last May, a month after council voted to start building the valley expressway. Braden asked how they were hired. Ray Simpson, the Hemson representative readily revealed that the work was untendered. "They asked us for a quote. We gave them a quote, and they said do it," he said. "It was all done on the phone."
Simpson also admitted that there were no terms of reference for the study and that he had only been asked to look at the positive economic effects of the road. "This is not an economic benefits study," he said, and that it would be "very difficult to show a net economic benefit" for a roadway.
In his presentation, Simpson argued that the main reason to build the expressway was "because central Ontario needs more roads". He said that the supply of new roads in Ontario is "quite out of whack" with population growth and that transit will never account for more than 30% of the trips.
A second major reason was the need to open up more employment lands. He noted that Hamilton has had 20 years of no employment growth while nearby cities have done very well. He argued that the main reason for this poor performance in Hamilton was the lack of accessible employment lands in local business parks.
Councillor Terry Whitehead noted that the business parks are going to be very expensive to service, and that Hamilton can't afford both the servicing and the expressway costs. Simpson said "you have to do both now". He said that most of Ontario has already stopped growing because of the aging population and that the Hamilton area has at most 15 more years of significant growth possibilities. "If you guys don't invest in this road, PLUS getting some of your business parks going, this current cycle is going to pass you by."
Earlier in the meeting, City planning staff had confirmed that it will cost $45-50 million each to service the business parks like North Glanbrook, and "tens of millions" to service the lands around the airport - the two areas identified by Simpson as potentially benefitting from the valley expressway. The city budget doesn't allow for any significant spending on these lands for at least five years. The forecast 10-year capital budget is currently underfunded by over $300 million.
(report prepared by CATCH - Citizens at City Hall)
See www.environmenthamilton.org/CATCH for reports on most City Hall meetings over the past two months, including detailed information on the recent expressway implementation committee meeting on the 'agreements' with the aboriginal people.
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