Groups decry St-Henri redevelopment plan
Community organizations blasted the city’s development plans for a section of the Sud- Ouest borough Tuesday, saying the project emphasized creating a “cute” neighbourhood ripe for gentrification instead of addressing the neighbourhood’s most pressing needs.
“We don’t need a ‘cuter’ neighbourhood. We need at least 500 more social housing units, access to services and stores that are close and affordable, and measures to protect our health,” said Patricia Viannay, a member of Solidarité Saint-Henri and a community organizer for POPIR-Comité Logement, in a statement.
On Monday, the city and borough released its development plan for the neighbourhoods of western St-Henri, Côte-St-Paul and Ville-Émard that reside to the south of the Turcot Interchange and have been the most affected by its seven-year rebuilding process. The plan outlined measures intended to improve quality of life in the sector composed mainly of low-income housing, which include beautifying the main street, building a three-kilometre bike path connecting the various neighbourhoods, planting 500 trees and building or improving nine parks. Major work in and around the Gadbois recreation centre, planned in conjunction with the government of Quebec, was cited as a $40-million add-on to the development plan, which was created after two years of public consultations.
SOCIAL HOUSING
Members of Solidarité SaintHenri, however, said the city ’s plan failed to register the priorities already outlined in a development plan created by the community organization over the space of several years and presented in 2017. In addition to social housing, better health care and local services, the cornerstone of the organization’s plan was to convert the abandoned Canada Malting factory on the edge of the Lachine Canal into a community site that would have included 200 social housing units, a food production centre and other community projects.
“Projet Montréal assured us on several occasions it intended to support the project and to ensure that the site would not be converted into condominiums,” yet the city’s plan virtually “rolls out the red carpet for developers,” Viannay said.
Sud-Ouest Mayor Benoit Dorais said on Monday that short of building a 15-storey tower, there is no space to put 500 social housing units in that neighbourhood. His plan to put 100 spots in six municipal-owned buildings was an excellent start, he said.