City backs GO stop at Fifty
But Grimsby wants a train station, too, nearly next door
March 02, 2010
Rachel De Lazzer
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/731044
Councillor David Mitchell is spearheading an effort to get a GO train station at Fifty Road to make sure that Grimsby doesn't swipe the opportunity for a station in the area.
Council unanimously approved a motion backing the Fifty Road station, near the QEW, last Wednesday.
Mitchell says he became concerned after hearing from residents who attended a GO public information meeting in Grimsby last month.
He says they were told by consultants for GO that a site on Casablanca Boulevard in Grimsby would likely be preferred to the Fifty Road site, one highway exit away in Winona, and that there wouldn't be a station at both.
"That's the impression that I've got ... and I didn't know until I had my own public meeting (with) some of our residents in Winona that went to that (Grimsby) meeting that there was a major competition going on."
But Grimsby Alderman Wayne Fertich, who also sits on Niagara region's transportation strategy steering committee, says the issue has nothing to do with competition.
It's simply a matter of supporting what is considered to be the best site for a GO train station in that town.
"If we can get one in Grimsby, this is the one we want," he said, noting the Casablanca site has more parking capacity than two other proposed Grimsby sites.
Fertich added that the ministry representatives in no way suggested that a decision had been made or that there was any kind of competition between the Fifty Road and Casablanca sites.
GO Transit announced late last year its plans to expand its rail service to Niagara. It is looking at 14 possible sites, including four in Hamilton.
The transportation agency started an environmental assessment on the locations on Nov. 18 and says it will take a year to complete.
Part of the EA process is polling the public for feedback through meetings, including the recent one in Grimsby.
It will review the feedback from those sessions and present a pared down list of the sites sometime in spring, said spokesperson Vanessa Thomas.
She could not say how many sites would be chosen.
Thomas stressed that no decision about potential sites had been made: "It's important to remember that this is all potential and possible extensions.... At the end of the EA process, the province of Ontario will decide whether we can go forward with this rail expansion to and from the Niagara Region."
Mitchell says the unanimous vote from council should send a strong message to GO.
He said the consultants had told residents they had heard nothing from Hamilton council.
"I'm a little shocked at that because I'd been told that we'd be in the running."
Mitchell says having a GO station at Fifty Road makes sense because of plans to build an $85-million commercial development anchored by a Wal-Mart at the same location. The Wal-Mart plan will be considered at an Ontario Municipal Board hearing in September.
He cites ample development on the north side of the QEW as another good reason for a station at Fifty Road.
