Expansion of nature park recommended
A 4-million-square-foot lot on ÎleBizard should be bought and added to the Bois-de-l’Île-Bizard Nature Park, the City of Montreal recommended to the agglomeration council on Nov. 19. The proposed purchase was also presented at Montreal’s city council on Monday.
The lot, near Bord-du-Lac Road, would cost the agglomeration about $6 million. The purchase would still have to be finalized with the property’s current owner.
The acquisition is part of the city’s goal to increase the amount of green space in Montreal. The recent Schéma d’aménagement et de développement, an urban planning document for the city adopted in January, set the target for protected natural areas to be 10 per cent of the city’s area.
“This is an area of great ecological interest that will consolidate the Bois-de-l’Île-Bizard Nature Park,” said Montreal city councillor Réal Ménard in a press release announcing the city’s recommendation. Ménard is responsible for the city’s environment, parks, green space and sustainable development portfolio.
Twenty-two per cent of the land is wetlands, including some that have been restored. A document provided by the city describes the lot as an open space with wooded areas that include several species of trees, including cedar and maple. The property is home to several kinds of animals, including birds, coyotes, foxes, deer and reptiles. Specific animals in the area include the northern map turtle, the red-shouldered hawk and Cooper’s hawk, according to a report compiled by the Green Coalition. There is also a pond, said MarieChantal Scholl, who founded the Association pour la protection des espaces verts de l’Île-Bizard, after she saw the property was for sale. “And the jewel of the (nature park) is that pond,”
“I thought, if there’s any building, any construction on this site, it will compromise the whole ecosystem of the park,” she said.
Though Scholl noted she found allies in the borough government, she also started a petition that attracted about 150 signatures supporting the purchase of the property.
Scholl herself has connections to the area. “I was born and raised here, on Île-Bizard,” she said. “In the ’70s and ’80s, I saw all the construction, and all the green spaces that I used to play in were disappearing, pretty fast.”
“This is what makes Île-Bizard such a beautiful, enjoyable place. We don’t want to lose all that.”
Old stables on the property would be demolished and, according to city documents, they could be a potential source of contamination, but the document also noted that any contamination would be evaluated and eliminated, if it arose at all.
The sale price of the land is within the market value range established by Section CPMS property valuation in January, according to city documents. The current owner of the land is listed as George Petty Management Ltd. According to Industry Canada’s database, the current director of the company is Virginia Petty.
“It’s good for the island, it’s good for the city, it’s good for the nature park, it’s good for the people of ÎleBizard — if it works out,” Petty said.