Mayoral candidates spar over massive Place des Peuples
The touchiest development plan in ages in Gatineau is a study in contrasts: Two sleek towers, one of them 55 storeys tall, soaring over the Canadian Museum of History and narrow streets with little houses nearby.
Gatineau developer Brigil wants to build the Place des Peuples, a hotel and condo complex with commercial space looking across at Parliament Hill.
But the incumbent candidate for mayor and his Action Gatineau party stand in the way.
As well, public opinion is split right down the middle. A Segma Research poll commissioned by Le Droit and 104.7 Outaouais shows 49 per cent of residents approve of the plan and 46 per cent don’t like it.
Incumbent mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin says Brigil’s plan is all wrong for a historic neighbourhood.
Gatineau has proposed protected heritage status for the entire Museum District, just north of Place du Portage and Gatineau City Hall.
The district has about 50 buildings, including the Collège SaintJoseph and the former presbytery of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Church. Many date from soon after the Great Fire of 1900.
A business group called Essor centre-ville (Downtown progress) released an “economic analysis” that contended extending heritage status to the whole district would be harmful to the city.
Pedneaud-Jobin says the towering project doesn’t respect the planning bylaws, the development plan, or the National Capital Commission bylaws about views of Parliament Hill and Confederation Boulevard.
The towers would be fine somewhere else, he argued — but Brigil doesn’t want to build them somewhere else.
He also accused Brigil of trying to threaten him with its hints that it would concentrate on building in Ottawa instead, where city hall officials are friendlier. Brigil CEO Gilles Desjardins told a radio talk show audience that the mayor has been blocking Brigil, and that Ottawa was inviting him to cross the river “to build beautiful things” in Ottawa instead.
Desjardins has said of the condo project: “Place des Peuples is special to me. It represents my pride to be a Gatinois and my will to affix an immortal imprint to that city.”
Mayoral challenger Clément Bélanger approves of Brigil’s choice of site.
“I agree that location, location, location is key to get people to move into those towers. If you move them elsewhere it might be harder to sell. It might be harder to get tourists to go up the tower.
“We know that Ottawa is going to build similar towers, in terms of height, around LeBreton Flats, so we need to be a better place for folks to want to go up and get a better view.”
Details of the project should involve the community, he said, but he likes both the site and the height.
And former councillor Sylvie Goneau, also running for mayor, is also on Brigil’s side.
Given the proper approvals, “It is the developer’s: That is his land and he’s allowed to develop it. And I’m favourable to what he is proposing,” give or take some details to suit the needs of the community, she said in an interview.
“It’s not the whole area that is deemed heritage. There are a few houses that are deemed heritage and I think they can be easily included or incorporated in the project.”
“The little streets (in the historic area) will still be there.”
Rémi Bergeron says he loves the Brigil project but not the site, because it would cast a shadow across too much of Old Hull.
His solution: Move the towers to the site that will become available once the old Guertin Arena is demolished. That way, he said, the towers will cast their shadow over the expressway and other major streets, so it won’t matter as much.
Mayoral candidate Denis Tassé didn’t respond to a question about the issue, but was generally in favour of the Essor centre-ville report.
Meanwhile, even the president of the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce, Jean-Claude Des Rosiers, is getting into the issue, accusing city hall of giving a politically motivated order to slow down Brigil’s project. He said in a radio interview this was inside information but he wouldn’t reveal his sources.
This went over poorly with Pedneaud-Jobin, who defended the city’s staff and accused Brigil (again) of campaigning against him. But Goneau said it’s a sign that business people are afraid to speak out about city hall for fear of reprisals, and “this is why silence reigns in Gatineau.”
It’s extremely rare that mayors running for re-election, who have not faced major problems during their mandate, are not re-elected. Anne Mévellec, Quebec municipal politics expert, University of Ottawa