Regarding Fruitland Road; The Full (Sort of) List of Responses

Unfortunately, not all the candidates took the time to respond to my enquiry...even though it was first made more than two weeks ago. However, here are the responses I did get (Please keep in mind that some would have been sent to me shortly after my request, referencing this post):

As a Stoney Creek resident for over 22 years I feel that this issue should have been resolved long ago. When these residents purchased their homes they were under the impression that the road was never intended to be open to traffic. That being said I support a by-pass in the area. The by-pass should be put into consideration before any development is planned. This problem has been going for over a decade and I am flabbergasted that it has taken this long and even more shocked that nothing has been done by our current councilor. If I am elected, I plan to work with the Ward 11 representative ensuring that the residents of Fruitland Rd. are no longer ignored by their councilor and that this issue is taken care of once and for all. At the end of the day, all these people really want is to live in a safe area where they can let their kids out to play and their dog/cat out.

The people I spoke to on Saturday were promised that something would be done, and they are angry and hurt that these promises have been broken.

Bernard Josipovic

Candidate, Ward 10

I truly believe that the City should resolve the "Fruitland road issue". This problem has been in the table for years. It is time for a final and permanent solution.

I am partisan of building a by-pass to divert the traffic of Fruitland road. However, why the city is not doing it? Because (and this is my opinion) Fruitland Road is not a priority and the current incumbents are only looking into their own pockets and not having any vision about the future of the City. Money? No. Money is not an issue. Just look at the 76 Millions spent at City Hall. Can you see money well spent? How about the money already spent in surveys and studies for the Pan-Am games stadium? What about the millions of dollars spent in lobbing a NHL team to come to town?

I believe that if we want to build a city for our future generations we need to start thinking differently and change the status quo.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result". Albert Einstein

It is time for a change.

José Pablo Bustamante

Candidate, Ward 10

Thank you for your patience. I will provide you with the 'press release' summary of my hope for the resolution of the Fruitland Road issue. As we previously discussed, there is a lot of history on this issue and I have been aware and involved going back to 1991! Remembering that Fruitland Road was under Regional control up to 2000 when amalgamation went through. The three years that I was not on Council is when the capital works projects were reviewed and re-priortized by the new Council. This is when the Fruitland Road re-alignment was removed from the books and the funding re-allocated.

I know that Councillors and staff have taken the Fruitland Road issue very seriously and this is evidenced by the tremendous amount of time and effort put into the necessary reviews including the issue at the Truck Route Subcommittee (when I became a member and vice-chair of this committee -Fruitland Road was the first on the list of several roads that have truck traffic issues in Ward 10), the Fruitland Road Environmental Assessment and the final resolution of the Stoney Creek Urban Boundary Expansion process (which I understand started in 2001 and was finally approved in 2008, after years of study, approval and OMB hearings) and Fruitland Winona Secondary Plan Review. Having been able to finally move forward on all of these almost in concert has been a benefit to the whole process. Just completing the Secondary Plan, gives a positive message that, not only will the re-alignment take place, but also expansion easterly making the argument for the construction of the re-alignment even stronger.

With the completion of the EA and the anticipated approval of the Secondary Plan now completed by the Community Advisory Committee, I sincerely hope that the Secondary Plan will be approved and not challenged to the Ontario Municipal Board which would mean further delays in development. With this approval I am confident we will see development commencing on the lands on the east side of the current Fruitland Road. The new proposed re-aligned Fruitland Road which will be required to allow a lot of this development to go ahead will have to be constructed and at such time as this is completed we will finally see a resolution to the truck traffic issue in the current neighbourhood. There are also design features that staff are recommending to be completed in conjunction with development at the current Barton Street and Fruitland Road intersection that should encourage drivers to use the newly built road. Another positive will be that the new road will be built to service the new area of development and will have the necessary setbacks and development approved around it. Residents purchasing in this area will be aware of the road before they move in. There will be so many efficiencies that will and can come from this new road and future development.

Maria Pearson

Councillor, Ward 10

People are entitled to live in safe and healthy communities. In the case of Fruitland Road, their road was never intended to be open to traffic. I support the need for a by-pass for Fruitland Road, and that the by-pass needs to be built before any development ensues in this area. This problem has been outstanding for far too long and the by-pass was to be completed over a decade ago. It is about time that Ward councillors support these residents rather than ignore their concerns. If I am elected I will stand up for this community and for other communities to ensure that children, families and seniors reside in safe and healthy neighbourhoods.

Ken Chartrand

Candidate, Ward 11

We have a Truck Route sub -committee which I am the Chairman of and the goal was to design a new t ruck route system in Hamilton. One that everyone had a better understanding of and after full public scrutiny we'd have a new enforceable bylaw. There was an RFP done and a firm hired that specialized in traffic design. This firm worked with our City staff and reported to our sub Committee on its findings. A draft report was made after the first round of public consultation to collect information. That information was discussed by Committee and sent back to the public for a second round of presentations . That report suggested as an option, that Fruitland Rd become a part time truck route and trucks be prohibited from 7pm to 7 am. At the public meeting in Stoney Creek Council Chambers the Fruitland Rd Activist group openly said no , that was not acceptable in any way and there only choice was to ban Fruitland Rd from trucks all together. It was at that point the half time option was removed and not included in the final report. As time went on several residents who were not Fruitland Rd Activists contacted me and requested the part time truck route status be brought back. The Staff opposed that request as it had been removed from the report, so I took it to Council as a motion to amend the new truck route by law and make Fruitland Rd a part time truck route until further plans could be concluded through an EA process and staff to report back. It was moved by myself as Truck Route Chairman and Seconded by Councillor Pearson the nieg h bouring ward Councillor that represented the west side of Fruitland Rd.

Dave Mitchell

Councillor, Ward 11

N.B. Submissions were not edited for anything other than minor formatting and punctuation corrections.