It's official! The City of Hamilton has purchased the entire parcel of land at Father Sean O'Sullivan Park.  The City and School Board have negotiated a price and finalized the sale associated with the 8 acre parcel of land.  This is one of the largest park purchases in the City's history.

Thank you to everyone in the neighbourhood who took the time to attend the public meeting, and sign the door-to-door and online petitions.  Your support was instrumental in convincing City Council to purchase this valued green space and park land.  I'm hopeful we can plan a community wide event to celebrate the purchase and formally thank those in the neighbourhood who invested a lot of their own personal time and energy into the initiative.  I'll be in touch shortly with more details.

I continue to work on the elimination of the 'part time' truck route status of Nash Road North and South.  Since 1973 Nash Road has been designated a part time truck route, allowing heavy transport trucks to use this route between the hours of 7 a.m and 7 p.m.  Much has changed in thirty years.  Nash Road is fully developed as a residential street, with subdivisions fully built on both sides.  Coupled with the recent opening of the Red Hill Valley Parkway, there's little reason to retain Nash Road as part of the City's Truck Route System.  The City is currently reviewing and revising its municipal truck route system, and I hope to be able to use this study as an opportunity to remove the designation. 

Preliminary traffic counts by the City's Traffic Department estimate that there are nearly 5000 (1/3) less vehicles using Nash Road per day, as compared to previous counts taken prior to the opening of the Expressway. 

The Planning and Economic Development Committee heard the application submitted by Losani Homes for 11 Ambrose Avenue on November 17th, 2009.  Several committee members, local residents and I raised a number of concerns and objections to the application to build 46 units on this small parcel of land.

After considerable discussion and debate, the matter was tabled until February to allow a group of residents and I to meet with the developer to discuss our concerns. 

Since that time, the developer has decided to appeal the matter directly to the Provincial Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).  The City has received correspondence from the applicant highlighting his displeasure with our decision, claiming that he has not received fair treatment from me, City of Hamilton staff or the Planning and Economic Development Committee.  As such, this matter will be heard by the OMB in 2010. 

In the interim, I would like to establish a working committee of about 6 residents to assist me with the file as we proceed to the OMB.  I have already received a number of calls and emails from volunteers who are interested in participating, and I will be meeting with these individuals in January.

Thank you to all of the residents who participated with the online petition, and to those who personally attended the committee meeting held on November 27th.  I will continue to keep the neighbourhood informed through regular correspondence and emails.  Please do not hesitate to contact my office with questions or comments.