Hillsburgh merchants must cope with detour

by Kris Svela

GUELPH

Merchants here will have to cope with a road detour expected to last four months.

Hillsburgh resident Lloyd Turbitt made a presentation to Wellington County Council to express concerns about the impact the closure of county road 24 between Sideroads 17 and 22 will have on the 10 businesses in the community. He said there was insufficient public notice of the project.

In a rare move Turbitt, who does not own a business but is a member of the Let’s Get Hillsburgh Growing Committee, was granted a last-minute time slot to make a presentation to council.

“This will be the third traffic  disruption for the merchants of Hillsburgh this spring/summer,” Turbitt said in his presentation. “Hydro pole replacement and the installation of watermains on part of the downtown are others.”

The work involves construction of a bridge and culvert replacement.

“The four months to build the bridge is unavoidable,” county engineer Gord Ough told council at its June 28 meeting. “We had this project on our five-year plan since 2007. It’s a tricky site with wetlands on both sides.”

“Given the poor economic climate any more diversion of traffic will cause further economic hardship for the businesses,” Turbitt said.

“I feel there should have been a public meeting explaining what was happening and why,” he added. “Two little signs posted recently at the site and two huge ones this week at the traffic lights on Trafalgar Road didn’t give most people enough notice.”

“Signs (to inform the public) didn’t go up earlier because all approvals weren’t in, Ough said.”

Councillor Ray Tout suggested merchants post signs informing motorists their “businesses are still open” despite the construction and detour.

July 6, 2012