Battle lines drawn over ‘monster’ development in Pierrefonds West
What to do with Pierrefonds West? The controversy swirling around the future of 185-hectares of land in western Pierrefonds reaches back 30 years.
Environmental groups want the former farmland left alone. They argue that protecting the biodiversity of the region and preserving an important green space for citizens should take priority over residential development.
The five developers who own the land and want to build more than 5,000 residential units say their proposed project, dubbed Cap Nature Pierrefonds Ouest, both respects the area’s biodiversity and responds to the growing demand for housing in the Montreal area. In 2015, the developers announced they would conserve a green space around the same size of Mont-Royal park within the development’s boundaries.
And so sets the scene for the much-anticipated, multi-phase public consultation process organized by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), which begins March 26.
Grassroots groups including Sauvons L’Anse-à-l’Orme — named for the regional eco-territory — and the Green Coalition are fierce opponents of the project.
A petition has collected more than 17,000 signatures calling for the end of the “monster” development. The groups say conserving the area is critical to the survival of vulnerable species of birds, snakes and turtles and that residential development would negatively affect the natural roaming patterns of wildlife including deer and coyotes.
Former Quebec environment minister David Cliche has been a lobbyist and consultant for the developers for more than 10 years. He said the resistance to the project is another example of the not-in-mybackyard syndrome.
“Sustainable development can generate revenue, which helps pay for things like park maintenance and (road infrastructure) costs,” Cliche told the Montreal Gazette in 2015. “But my grandfather once told me that the most difficult thing to do is to change the way people think.”
Cliche said the developers have commissioned study after study pertaining to the project and that the project respects the environment. Opponents have their own pile of studies.
A recent study by Juste Rajaonson from UQAM’s Department of Urban Studies and Tourism said the precarious ecological nature of the territory could place it under the protection of Quebec’s Environment Quality Act, a move that could, potentially, restrict development. The study also looked at possible economic benefits of the development, but said that any financial benefit to the city through taxes would be wiped out by the cost of infrastructure maintenance and the delivery of public services to the area.
Pierrefonds-Roxboro councillor and Vrai changement pour Montréal leader Justine McIntyre has been wary about the way the development file has been handled from the time she was elected in 2013. She’s questioned the way the land was rezoned from agricultural to residential and, in a statement released following the announcement of the OCPM hearings, she questioned the validity of holding a public consultation when the borough has yet to table a Special Planning Project (SPP) for the area.
“It’s all well and good to ask citizens’ opinion, but without having all the information, without knowing what’s already been planned for the sector, we’re going forward blindly,” McIntyre said in the statement.
Borough mayor Jim Beis said the borough put working on an SPP on hold in 2015 for a reason.
“We wanted to wait to hear what was said at the (OCPM) consultations,” he said. “What we hear could ultimately change the direction of what might be done in this area. Someone asked me why we are bothering with consultations when it’s a fait accompli. It’s not a fait accompli. I’m excited. We’re at a crossroads. It’s important that everybody has a say.”
One problem for the sector that everybody can agree on is the lack of a north/south boulevard to ease the traffic crunch in the area.
Both McIntyre and Beis agree that building an urban boulevard is a priority.
The OCPM process kicks off with an open house at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School, 13800 Pierrefonds Blvd., March 26 at 11 a.m. Visitors can learn more about the proposed project and ask questions at various information booths. Later the same day at the same location is a more formal information session, beginning at 3 p.m. Next up is an information session, again at the high school, looking specifically at the region’s biodiversity, April 4 at 7 p.m. And a workshop designed to encourage public discourse on the future of the land takes place at the high school on April 9 at 1 p.m.
Free on-site daycare is provided for all events listed above.
Individuals, groups or organizations wanting to present a brief before the OCPM have until April 27 at 4 p.m. to submit the request. Briefs will be presented at Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough hall, 13665 Pierrefonds Blvd., on May 2 at 7 p.m.
After the OCPM analyzes all the information, it will present its recommendations on a date to be determined.
For more information about the public consultation process or submitting a brief, call 514-8723568 or visit www.ocpm.ca.