The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

3 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,January 2,2020 insidehalton.com INFO@THESTOUTMONK.COM THESTOUTMONK.COM Great Wine List 17 Beers on Tap Great New Menu Multiple TV's 478 Dundas St. W., Oakville • (905) 257-4004 • www.thestoutmonk.com Multiple TV's Follow us @thestoutmonk: Check out our totally renovated restaurant with the Elvis Room, Ratpack Lounge and plenty of room for you and your family, friends or co-workers to relax, unwind and catch up. The Vetrone family has a long history in the town's food and beverage industry. The Stout Monk is a family run establishment. A warm welcome, friendly service and a passion for great food made with the highest quality fresh ingredients sourced locally wherever possible are the hallmarks of this neighbourhood gathering spot. Make our faMily part of your faMily • WEEKLY FEATURES • Monday is Wing Night Tuesday is Ladies' Night Wednesday Soup & Sandwich Combo Thursday is Burger Day Live Music every Saturday night after the hockey game Football Sunday The Town of Oakville has announced that Phase 2 of the Lakeshore Road re- construction and street- scape project in downtown Oakville will be getting off to an early start. The project, which will see construction between Dunn Street and Allan Street, was initially sched- uled to begin in late Janu- ary but will now be kicking off Jan. 7 when Union Gas begins replacing gas lines in the area. Town staff said the earlyTown staff said the earlyT start follows extensive feed- back from the business community calling for the work to be done as fast as possible. The downtown mer- chants, who emphasize they will be open during construction, have said they are deeply concerned about the proposed 10- month closure of Lakeshore Road and the impact this will have on their business- es. "Council has heard the messaging from our retail- ers, shoppers, downtown business owners, residents, landlords, and is committed to completing the project as soon as possible," said Oak- ville Mayor Rob Burton. "We value this level of en- gagement and know this $20-million investment will contribute to the long-term health of our downtown." Council has also autho- rized CRCE, the general contractor on the project, to work weekends and eve- nings where required. "We are all very much aware of the desire to haveaware of the desire to havea the project completed as soon as possible," said Jill Stephen, director of engi- neering and construction. "The Lakeshore Road project is a complex one in- volving multiple contrac- tors working together to complete the work required by the town, Halton Region, Union Gas and Oakville Hy- dro, and we will look at ev- ery opportunity to move this project forward faster." Council has directed town staff to report back to February's council meetingFebruary's council meetingF on additional opportunities to shorten the completion deadline. The downtown mer- chants want to see con- struction done by early Sep- tember. Currently, the project is scheduled for completion in mid-November. Council also recently heard from Dorothy St. George, director of econom- ic development regarding projects included in the mit- igation strategy: • Free parking on Satur- days and Sundays • First hour free parking with Honk App • Parking availability - additional parking spaces created throughout the downtown • Retail/restaurant pati- os and outdoor displays - re- duction in fees • A-Frame and hoarding signs - fees waived • Restaurant program - sign-up fees waived with Skip the Dishes • Digital Main Street - launched in Oakville's three BIAs during the spring of 2019 providing free one-on-one assistance to businesses, helping them adopt new digital technolo- gies and practices. Businesses are also able to apply for a $2,500 digital transformation grant from the province until Jan. 10, 2020. Early Phase 2 work will include water-main work, replacement of electrical in- frastructure and Silva cellfrastructure and Silva cellf installation. Above-ground work will include concrete paving and granite curb installa- tion. Remaining Phase 1 workRemaining Phase 1 workR includes the installation of traffic signals at George and Lakeshore Road, new light poles and the removal of temporary asphalt boule- vards and granite curbs. Much of this work is weather dependent and will be undertaken in the spring. That work will be com- pleted without the need to close Lakeshore Road to ve- hicular traffic. For more information,For more information,F visit oakville.ca. TOWN ANNOUNCES EARLY START TO DOWNTOWN CONSTRUCTION Town of Oakville has announced Phase 2 of Lakeshore Road Reconstruction project will begin Jan. 7, 2020. Graham Paine/Torstar DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES WILL REMAIN OPEN DURING CONSTRUCTION