I must say, that Hamilton LRT plan looks pretty awesome. I would have attended that meeting had I known about it ahead of time, but alas, it seems to be starting right now and I live at Gage and Mohawk.
The major problem with putting an LRT on the Hamilton Mountain is space constraints. The only corridor that can be easily converted to LRT is the Linc, however there is no potential for development there. Of the other three options (Fennel, Mohawk, Stone Church), any LRT would narrow the road to one car lane in each direction. Since everyone drives here, the NIMBYism would be off the wall and public pressure would likely halt any progress. I sure don't care about lack of room for cars, but most of the rest of the city would.
Besides that, even proposing LRT on Stone Church is absurd. Take a look on Google Maps. Empty fields and low-density subdivisions. There is literally nothing east of west of Winterberry until Upper Ottawa, from there to Wellington is low density single family, from there to Garth is a few houses and an expanse of fields (no doubt slated for more subdivisions), one more block of low density, then nothing until the Meadowlands. Honestly, including Stone Church as a possibility wasn't that great an idea, even with an "if you build it, they will come" mentality in place. Something tells me that people won't exactly be jumping at the chance to live in a condo on the outskirts of the city surrounded by nothing to do.
I would greatly support LRT along Fennel or Mohawk because, though there isn't much density, at least the population is consistent and not car-oriented subdivisions. On top of that, there is some existing low and high rise development. For example, on Mohawk, west of Upper Gage, west of Upper Sherman, East 16th to Dodson, Upper James, and east of Magnolia. Fennel is similar. I realize that isn't exactly amazing density, but it could serve as the precursor to better things. An LRT would kick start that.
Anyway, those are my views on a Hamilton Mountain LRT.
