City councillors want to improve how the City communicates with businesses in advance of capital projects, especially roadwork that will require lengthy closures and detours such as the ongoing work along York Boulevard and Cannon Street.
Looming in the near future is Hamilton’s largest-ever infrastructure program, the building of the B-Line light rail transit system between Eastgate Square and McMaster University.
Council’s Public Works Committee voted Monday for the City to conduct specific outreach to businesses in advance of major construction projects.
Presently, the City does not approach pre-construction consultation and engagement in a standardized, consistent manner, and none of the various policies specifically names businesses as a constituency to be communicated with.
Ward 1 Councillor Maureen Wilson said the City needs to look at “what other best practices are active out there” such as ensuring clear alternative parking locations for businesse, improved signage, marketing, and other supports for small businesses especially.
The City needs to consider that many small businesses are operated by immigrant families, Wilson said, adding, “when we are dropping off letters or engaging that we ensure that it’s done in a language that perhaps is the first language for those investors.”
Ward 15 Councillor Ted McMeekin praised City staff for the communications and engagement in advance of the Dundas Street CP rail bridge replacement project.
Communications for the bridge project “were amazing,” he said. “They had 18 staff people out to the community meeting to listen to all the input” and “actually made some changes to the project.”
The Dundas Street project involves the demolition and reconstruction of the bridge over Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railway tracks and Grindstone Creek near Mill Street, spanning the 2025 and 2026 construction seasons. [More information from the City of Hamilton here.]
Committee passed a motion directing staff to develop a business-friendly construction policy and report back to a future meeting.
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Published: June 11, 2025
Last updated: June 11, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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