Ste-Catherine St. plan under fire
Commercial strip could lose almost 500 parking spots, document shows
Under fire from opposition city councillors and Montreal’s downtown business association, Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration is denying that it has already decided to eliminate almost 500 parking spots on Ste-Catherine St. When it announced Phase 1 of the Ste-Catherine revitalization in the spring, the Plante administration said parking would be removed between Bleury and Mansfield Sts. and one of the two traffic lanes would be dropped. The revamp of that 670-metre stretch, including the elimination of 140 parking spots, is scheduled to be completed in 2021. On Monday, city council approved a contract to a consortium led by CIMA+ to study Phase 2 — the 1.7-kilometre stretch between Mansfield and Atwater Ave., where work would start after 2022. The city document detailing the contract for a feasibility study says that “in addition to expanded sidewalks (with an average width of 6.5 metres), the city has opted for a single-lane configuration (6.2 metres) and the elimination of street parking ” in Phase 1. “This scenario was developed with the idea of extending it to Phase 2 of the project.” At the moment, Ste-Catherine is four traffic lanes wide, including two lanes for parking. No elected official from the Plante administration would comment on Tuesday, said Laurence HoudeRoy, a spokesperson for the executive committee. She said the document does not imply that a final decision has been made. She said the study will look at the impact of such a move as well as possible alternatives. “It’s too early to say what Phase 2 will look like,” she said, adding that the city plans to hold public consultations before finalizing its plan. The opposition at city hall and an association that represents 8,000 downtown businesses argue that removing all street parking on Ste-Catherine St. between Bleury St. and Atwater Ave. would hurt retailers on the city’s premier commercial strip. “The contract that was adopted Monday clearly indicates that their decision is to extend that one lane of roadway all the way until Atwater, therefore eliminating 484 parking spots,” said city councillor Lionel Perez, leader of Ensemble Montréal.
That would be “devastating for the merchants of Ste-Catherine St. The lack of parking is already a great impediment for people to come downtown to shop from the greater Montreal region.” Such a move would drive more shoppers to suburban malls with free parking in Laval and the South Shore, Destination Centre-Ville executive director André Poulin said. “Adequate public transit” is not accessible to many shoppers, especially those from Montreal’s outskirts, he said. While making streets more pedestrian friendly is a laudable goal, if on-street parking is eliminated, underground parking should be built to replace it, he added. Poulin said hundreds of downtown parking spots have already disappeared over the last decade due to the introduction of bike lanes and the construction of condo and office towers on parking lots. His association wants the city to build a multi-level parking structure under the public square being planned for McGill-College Ave. The $123-million first phase of the Ste-Catherine project involves repairing decaying underground infrastructure and making the street more welcoming to pedestrians and shoppers. When Plante announced the plan in April, she said 80 per cent of the people who shop on the street arrive by public transit. She said the city was developing an app that will allow drivers to find parking in underground garages and on the street. The revamp is part of an effort to make downtown greener and more attractive and walkable. “Downtown must become a destination in itself,” she said at the time.