Village ponders condo development
Senneville town council sent a clear message during a recent public consultation about the Boisé Pearson condo project. Saving the Boisé Pearson woods is the priority.
The densely treed triangle owned by developer Jacques Belisle is zoned for single-family detached homes, but Belisle wants to build two condo buildings. The shift in land-use requires a zoning change which leaves the plan open to the possible launch of a referendum on the subject.
The original condo plan was rejected by the previous administration in July 2017 after it received 94 letters of opposition and following a very public pushback from residents living near the triangle. They said the project was too big, could negatively affect the flow of groundwater and a wetland on the property and would infringe on their quiet neighbourhood.
It was back to the drawing board for Belisle and the project’s urban planner Marc Perreault.
Perreault presented the new plan to a modest turnout at the community centre last week.
The number of units has been reduced from 126 to 68. The number of storeys for the two buildings has been reduced from four to three. Construction will be concentrated in a lower corner of the triangle with a buffer of trees separating the buildings from nearby Blvd-desAnciens-Combattants and 80 per cent of the parking underground. The wetland will be surrounded by a 15-metre-deep treed buffer zone. The separation between the condo buildings and the nearest home on Elmwood Ave. (which backs onto the triangle) will be 90 metres. And the condo buildings will be a maximum height of 10 metres.
Residents asked what it would look like if single-family homes were built instead of condo buildings. Mayor Julie Brisebois, Perreault and Senneville urban consultant Hélène Doyon took turns explaining that building up to eight single-family homes on 2,000 square metre lots, with driveways, swimming pools and mostly deforested yards would take a large bite out of the triangle’s woodland.
They said building eight singlefamily homes would use up an estimated 16,000 sq. metres. The condo project would cover 7,060 sq. metres.
“We strongly believe that there is a demand for (the condo lifestyle) in Senneville,” Perreault said. “We have been hearing from people who want to remain in Senneville, but can no longer stay in their homes.”
The regulation in its current state calls for the conservation of 80 per cent of mature trees on a lot slated for development. Brisebois and Doyon explained that the developer’s plan to conserve 80 per cent of the land, and not just save the mature trees located here and there throughout the lot, was environmentally preferable. “What the developer is presenting goes over and above what is mandated by the government,” Brisebois said. “Our priority as a council is to save the forest so that it can flourish and mature.” The revamped project is the developer’s final proposal. If it is not accepted, he will build the eight single-family homes as permitted by the zoning already in place. More than one resident voiced the concern that, down the road, the forested part of the lot would be developed. Brisebois said a contract in perpetuity would be signed by the village council and the developer prohibiting any further development of the woodland. Citizens may submit their comments and suggestions about the revised plan to info@villagesenneville.qc.ca until Sept. 10. Council will meet to discuss the comments received, Sept. 11, after which the official consultation and adoption process will move forward.