Hamilton City Council voted 9 to 4 this week to submit an environment assessment to reconstruct a submerged portion of Safari Road in rural Flamborough for a 30-day provincial review, while at the same time directing City staff to conduct a comprehensive cost analysis of permanently closing the roadway before any capital funds are committed.
Staff recommended proceeding with reconstruction to raise a two-and-a-half-kilometre stretch of the road by 0.6 metres, with work to be funded as part of the 2029 capital budget. Safari Road bisects the Sheffield-Rockton Provincially Significant Wetland, which has submerged the roadway in recent years. This has left seven properties partially cut off, and resulted in disruption of services to those residents.
At the Public Works Committee on May 4, 2026, councillors voted 5-4 to direct staff to study and provide the full lifecycle costs of reconstruction compared to the costs of permanently closing the roadway. The estimated cost of roadway reconstruction is $8.1-million.
If the City closes the roadway, it will need to purchase the properties of landlocked residents, who are adamantly opposed to losing their agriculture operations and homes.
Safari Road residents seek to remain and urge Council to proceed with road elevation
In an email sent to Mayor Andrea Horwath and City Council on May 8, 2026, John Fitzgerald and thirteen other Safari Road residents outlined their position.
“Closing the road is not fiscally responsible, due to the cost of real estate,” the residents wrote. “To buy out seven properties five of them farms with one hundred acres or more. The cost of buying out the residents would more than likely double the cost of raising the road 0.6 meters”.
The residents noted that closing the road would also require upgrading parallel routes to handle heavy truck traffic and force the City to undertake a massive ecological cleanup of existing contaminated soil and debris located at 1759 Safari Road. “We do not want to sell to the city and are interested in keeping our homes as some of us view this as part of our retirement plan,” the residents stated.
Impacted residents want the City to proceed with elevating the roadway so they can regain direct access to emergency services, mail delivery, school bus routes, snow plowing, and garbage pickup.
“Since the road has been closed there has been an increase in garbage and beverage containers; people parking in the middle of the road impeding access for homeowners on Safari Road, additional delays for emergency services to our property,” they wrote.
The residents called on Council to adopt the staff-recommended plan to elevate the road.
“This is the best win, win, win situation,” the email stated. “It is a win for the environment as the animals have a safe way to traverse the road. A win for the City as this is the most responsible and cost effective. A win for the community since the road will be opened and drivable”.
Council received dozens of letters supporting a permanent closure from residents and environmental advocates.
Environmental advocates urge Council to close road and allow wetland to persist undisturbed
Jen Baker, General Manager of the Hamilton Naturalist Club, delegated to the Public Works Committee urging the City to leave the road closed to protect the provincially significant wetland.
“We are strongly urging you to keep Safari Road closed between Valens and Kirkwall Roads,” Baker stated. “This important wetland provides habitat for countless species, including at least three federally and provincially recognized species at risk which have been documented using the wetland during their breeding season.”
Baker said the EA process ignored the City’s Biodiversity Action Plan. “We see no evidence of the BAP being considered during the planning for this project,” Baker argued. “Roads do not belong in wetlands because wetlands want to be wet and so will flood regularly. We have a chance here to fix this small section of road while also meeting commitments the City has made.”
Councillor positions
Councillor Alex Wilson (Ward 13), who represents the area, supported gaining more information while emphasizing that no final decisions were being made.
“To confirm, the letters we’ve received, six households of the properties, 14 residents have all said their preferred solution is to raise the road,” Wilson stated. “And they wanted to make that clear. And I want to make that clear at the start of my remarks that those most impacted, those most on the road, six of those households have said and sent a letter to us saying what their preferred option is”.
Wilson cautioned that if Council approves the road elevation now without addressing the questions posed by environmental advocates and maintenance costs, the project could easily be derailed.
“I think the worst thing we could do is vote today to allocate the 8 million dollars to the road and then in a future budget year when things are really tough and we’re trying to save some money, go, oh well, we didn’t fully cook this, we didn’t get all our questions answered, maybe we put this one off a year,” Wilson said. “Once we get this scheduled in the 2029 capital plan, it needs to stay in the 2029 capital plan. It has been delayed long enough”.
Wilson said the situation is a “disaster for residents” and cannot “keep on going.”
Councillor Tom Jackson (Ward 6) opposed the motion, saying the City needs to end uncertainty for Safari Road residents. “I can’t imagine the expropriation cost … to pay out to buy those seven homeowners’ land.” he said.
Councillor Rob Cooper (Ward 8) argued that the City was preparing to spend millions without properly addressing illegal activity that may have altered the wetland’s hydrology.
“I stated my concerns were the fact we haven’t gone back to look at the root causes,” Cooper said. “We have a history here of dumping. We’ve a history of trucks being charged… we can build as many roads as we want, we’re going to keep building roads, but we didn’t call it a biodiversity area. Well, really, when we’re talking about dumping and water being redirected, we’ve got to go back to root cause.”
Nick Winters, Director of Hamilton Water, stated that illegal dumping is not a contributing factor to flooding, citing other causes responsible for the issue.
“It is Hamilton Water who has been responsible for conducting a municipal drain assessment through a Council-appointed engineer to investigate the outside the road allowance and road corridor drainage issues that are present out in the Safari Road area,” Winters stated. “They haven’t identified that illegal dumping is a contributor to those drainage challenges. They have identified a number of different challenges, including impacts to natural water flow and surface drainage around that Provincially Significant Wetland corridor. The contributing factors identified include damaged, undersized, or non-existent culverts in some places, as well as obstructions to natural flows, such as beaver dams.”
Councillor Craig Cassar (Ward 12) said Council needs a comprehensive cost analysis, especially given the City’s infrastructure deficit.
“This is to have information in order to make a better decision,” Cassar said, noting the City faces approximately $100 million in unfunded road maintenance annually. “What’s the best way to spend $8-million dollars on a road network?”.
Mayor Andrea Horwath said the “complicated issue doesn’t need over-politicization. What it needs is responsible, thoughtful work by ourselves and by our staff.”
She said the “responsible path forward” is to gain more information before making a final decision.
The Council vote means the City will now formally submit the environmental assessment to the Province, beginning the mandatory 30-day public review period.
Concurrently, staff will research and prepare a report detailing the full lifecycle costs of reconstructing the roadway or permanently closing it. No date was set for the report.
Separately, Hamilton Water will continue its parallel municipal drain assessment to determine the root causes of the flooding, with a final report expected in the third quarter of 2027.
How Council Voted
In favour: Mayor Andrea Horwath, Maureen Wilson (Ward 1), Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2), Nrinder Nann (Ward 3), Tammy Hwang (Ward 4), Mark Tadeson (Ward 11), Craig Cassar (Ward 12), Alex Wilson (Ward 13), Ted McMeekin (Ward 15)
Opposed: Tom Jackson (Ward 6), Esther Pauls (Ward 7), Rob Cooper (Ward 8), Brad Clark (Ward 9)
Absent: Matt Francis (Ward 5), Jeff Beattie (Ward 10), Mike Spadafora (Ward 14)
Production Details
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Published: May 15, 2026
Last updated: May 15, 2026
Author: Joey Coleman
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