Hamilton councillors debate LRT for 13 hours, then delay approving major changes

After more than 10 hours of heated debate which involved shouting, finger pointing and comparing LRT support to AIDS and SARS Hamilton city councilisno farther ahead in approving itslatest light rail transit plan.

City councillorswere going to vote Tuesdayon an update to a 2011 environmental assessmentessentially an updated plan for the $1 billion system, which runs from McMaster University to the Queenston traffic circle.

• 8 LRT questions Hamiltoncouncillorswill debate Tuesday

That vote would have OK'd some major changes, including stopping the route at the traffic circle rather than Eastgate Square, a new maintenance and storage facility in the west end and making King Street a major one-way downtown thoroughfare two way in most places.

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"This is a major milestone," said Paul Johnson, the city's LRT project co-ordinator. "It took 18 months of work to get to this point."

But in the end, councillors weren't ready to vote yet. Terry Whitehead, Ward 8 councillor, even stood and opened a banker box during the meeting. He removed thick stacks of paper to illustrate the size of the environmental project report. Councillors didn't have long enough to digest it, he said.

Now the report will come back on April 19. When councillors vote, it will be whether to submit the update to the province.

It was an anticlimactic move after a long day. Forty speakers some for, some against presented on Tuesday. And it got heated.

Some booed. Some cheered. Carol Lazich, co-ordinatorof a "no LRT" effort, quoted journalist Peter Shawn Taylor in comparing LRT fever to AIDS and SARS.

"Forget AIDS or SARS, there's a new billion-dollar contagion popping up across the country," said Lazich, who is with a group called Hamilton C.O.S.T., as she read from Taylor's piece in the Financial Post.

"It's called LRTS Light Rail Transit Syndrome."

Other issues broached by speakers included concerns around rising electricity costs. If those continue to skyrocket, said Mountain resident Sarah Warry-Poljanski, and ridership projections fall short, who pays the shortfall?

A Ward 3 resident, Ron Johnson, suggested the city place pylons directing people from King Street to Cannon Streetand wait six months to see how it goes.

"It could cost six months but it could save a billion," he said.

Some councillorsquestioned why LRT is being debated again at all. Tuesday is about making three decisions whether to approvethe updates,include a stop at Bay Street and approve a plan for how LRT will hire local companies and workers.

"We didn't set this up to have an ongoing debate on LRT," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger. "We didn't. Procedurally, we are here to deal with the three issues that are on the agenda."

The pro camp included Keanin Loomis, president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.The vote on the updated EA should be a fairly straightforward one, he said. He and Shelley Falconer, president and CEO of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, were part of a group advocating for the Bay Street stop.

The environmental project report wasn't an "off ramp" to get out of the project, just a necessary step in the process. The next major vote is signing a master agreement with Metrolinx later this year.

CBC Hamilton reporter Samantha Craggs is tweeting live from the meeting. Follow her at @SamCraggsCBC or in the above window.