Downtown businesses reject King-only LRT
January 13, 2010
Meredith Macleod
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/704042
Business owners in downtown Hamilton are opposed to a plan to run light rail transit east and west on King Street.
Board members of both the Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement Area and the International Village BIA want the east and west B-line between Eastgate Square and McMaster split between Main and King streets.
The proposed $650-million project has yet to be approved by Metrolinx or the province.
The BIAs are reacting to a city proposal that would mean no on-street parking from Eastgate Square to University Plaza, a pedestrian and transit-only section of King west of Wellington, and no left turns except at lights.
It could also mean converting Main Street to two-way traffic.
The business owners fear the moves will make it less convenient for people to frequent downtown stores and restaurants, says Kathy Drewitt, executive director of the Downtown Hamilton BIA.
She said the downtown BIAs are "very supportive of LRT and we want to see it in the downtown but we can't see it all down King Street."
The city hopes to use the LRT as an economic stimulus for the corridor. Transit experts say the benefits of rapid transit to users and area businesses are intensified when lines are close together and riders can get on and off in the same location.
City staff argue Main Street is better able to handle car traffic and that King is more suitable for business intensification.
Drewitt says King and Main are only a block apart and that economic benefits could be spread along both -- and the north-south streets in between -- if the lines were split.
Tim Bullock, chairperson of the Downtown Hamilton BIA, said putting the LRT on King Street alone could make things too crowded there. "It's difficult to figure out how everyone will live together in there -- cars, pedestrians and LRT," he said. "They're cramming a lot into that corridor."
He said business owners are generally supportive of the LRT concept but worried about the practical details, such as getting deliveries and whether the system will mean unsightly overhead wires.
"When you talk about closing down (King Street) from Wellington, that's the entrance to the business area and that scares the hell out of us," said Gord Thompson, whose downtown jewellery and pawn shop is a King Street fixture.
Downtown Councillor Bob Bratina thinks both LRT lines should run along Main. He says the street is less meandering, wider and doesn't require any property expropriation.
Two streetcar lines used to run along Main years ago, with cars sharing the road.
"I can't see why we can't revisit Main again," said Bratina, adding he worries many King Street businesses might not survive two years of construction.
Jill Stephen, the city's director of strategic and environmental planning, isn't worried the opposition will affect Metrolinx's views of the Hamilton project. She says the concerns are being raised at a good time.
"We're not so far into the planning and design process that we can't adjust, mitigate or change things."
The BIAs have asked Stephen to walk King Street and meet with merchants.
"This is a huge plan ... and there will be growing pains and things people have to get used to," she said.
"Change is hard, we know that, but it's not impossible ... The long-term benefits will outweigh the short-term inconveniences."
The Metrolinx decision about whether Hamilton will get LRT or bus rapid transit is expected Feb. 19.
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