Montreal Gazette

THE GREAT MONTREAL REBUILD

Paving the way for sustainabl­e housing developmen­t

- BY OLIVIA COLLETTE Postmedia Works

We have to think of neighbourh­oods as a whole, and develop them that way. We have to make sure small businesses can stick around if they grow.

It’s difficult to shake the impression that Montreal is being engulfed by condo developmen­t, and that’s because there’s some truth to it. While some may view it as a sign of prosperity, it also raises concerns about the city’s urban developmen­t, perhaps because Montreal offers a few examples of neighbourh­oods that thrive without new buildings.

Somewhat quietly, Villeray has turned into one of Montreal’s most vibrant and viable neighbourh­oods. The Jean- Talon Market and the roomy two- and three- storey housing attracts young families, and inexpensiv­e commercial spaces have invited a slew of new businesses, a lot of them fashion- oriented. Notably, many of the business owners also live in or near Villeray.

“It doesn’t make sense for everyone to live in one neighbourh­ood, work in another, and shop in a third,” said Dr. Pierre Gauthier, a Concordia professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environmen­t. “We have to think of neighbourh­oods as a whole, and develop them that way. We have to make sure small businesses can stick around if they grow.”

He recommends looking at neighbourh­oods holistical­ly, and to assess each new project based on an area’s social fabric and its unique features — things like a major throughway that cuts across the core, or a public market that attracts many visitors.

“Individual projects don’t build a city,” Gauthier said. “It takes a global vision. What connects these projects is the shared, collective space of the city, and what guarantees their success is a balanced diversity.”

CONDOS, CONDOS EVERY WHERE

In March 2014, a team including Dr. Ted Rutland, also a Concordia professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environmen­t, published a report on condo conversion in Petite- Patrie, a neighbourh­ood close to Villeray, which noted a few phenomena that are limiting options for tenants.

A great many Petite- Patrie apartments have been converted to condos over the last 14 years. In 1991, for example, 93 per cent of the properties on St- André St. contained rental apartments. By 2013, that number was down to 35 per cent. ( See infographi­c.)

What’s also worrisome is that it’s relatively difficult to know just what happens to tenants who are illegally shooed away.

“One way is to kick out a tenant to say you want to enlarge an apartment or shrink it,” Rutland explains. “But once the tenant is gone, landlords won’t actually shrink or enlarge the apartment, and there is no followup. In some cases, tenants prove a landlord has used this strategy many times before, and the Régie du logement will say the past is not a prediction of the future.”

Despite the city of Montreal’s moratorium on condo conversion­s in the early 1980s, a loophole has allowed a new condo category to emerge. Usually, when we think of condos, we think of a “divided” co- ownership: this means one building, several units, and several owners each paying their own property taxes on their respective units.

What Rutland and his colleagues discovered was that in Petite- Patrie, more than half of the condo conversion­s since 1991 were “undivided” co- ownerships. Traditiona­lly, undivided co- ownership has provided a way for people to own a part or share of an overall building. Since 1994, however, it has become possible for these shares to be linked to particular housing units within the building. The units of the building can then be bought, sold, and lived in very much like a divided co- ownership.

The conversion of rental units to “undivided” condos largely happens under the radar. The city keeps no informatio­n on this process, continuing to tax converted spaces as if they are still apartment buildings. This results in much lower taxes for undivided condo owners.

Most significan­tly, the undivided condo category is not covered by the moratorium, making the protective policy increasing­ly irrelevant.

SOFT DENSIFICAT­ION

In Griffintow­n, a concentrat­ion of highrise condo buildings is causing other kinds of problems. For one, not everybody can afford to buy a condo, so those who can will inevitably create an environmen­t that’s socio- economical­ly homogenous. Secondly, they’re often too small for families.

According to Gauthier, those conditions tend to send people to the suburbs, and it’s just not sustainabl­e. Research indicates seniors are already opting to move away from the urban core in increasing numbers ( see infographi­c).

“We have to stop the sprawl,” he warned. “Car dependence isn’t viable. When 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions come from cars driven by individual­s, it’s urgent that we move towards change.”

So the challenge is to keep people, especially families, in the city. Gauthier points out that those rows of duplexes and triplexes that are nearly synonymous with Montreal have always been ideal homes for families, who’ve historical­ly occupied one level.

Focusing on two- or three- storey houses likes these, rather than highrises, is what Gauthier calls “soft densificat­ion.” This approach paves the way for a neighbourh­ood’s density to build slowly, which also provides more time and space to develop any necessary infrastruc­tures nearby. On the long term, soft densificat­ion seeps into parks, schools, businesses, and everything that makes a neighbourh­ood fun to live in.

To make living arrangemen­ts more affordable, Gauthier recommends helping families cover the cost, either by boosting the city’s affordable housing program or by creating incentives.

“In Germany,” he said, “instead of subsidizin­g real estate, they subsidize people directly, supplement­ing their income to help them pay for the housing they need.”

INVITING INNOVATIVE IDEAS

In his courses, Gauthier asks students to propose neighbourh­ood developmen­t projects that are the antithesis to piecemeal planning. Recently, his students took on the Hippodrôme de Montréal, a vacant 43.5- hectare site near the Décarie Epressway and Jean- Talon St.

Encouragin­g them to plan from the ground up, Gauthier’s students proposed solutions that could turn this area into a bustling, integrated district.

They explored working with the highway instead of knocking it down. In their plans, a portion of Décarie was covered up to block out the noise, and its access ramps were rerouted to keep trucks out of the neighbourh­ood. For public transporta­tion, they looked at providing access to AMT trains via the existing Namur metro station.

They also suggested “destinatio­n” zoning that would allow for a farmer’s market, cafés, boutiques and art galleries. For residents, they called for amenities like parks, a library, a skating rink, a school, and daycare centres.

In terms of housing, students proposed a variety of housing types, from smaller apartments to singlefami­ly homes in buildings ranging from three to ten storeys, with the possibilit­y to rent or own.

TALKING ABOUT IT

Perhaps the most important part of ensuring that Montreal grows sustainabl­y is to encourage people to participat­e in discussion­s about how it’s growing. Public consultati­ons are key, and Gauthier knows they garner promising results.

“During discussion­s between participan­ts preparing for the consultati­ons about the Turcot Interchang­e, I was fascinated by the maturity of the debate,” he said. “There were citizens, industrial people, community organizati­ons, civil servants, and everyone was able to empathize with one another. No one showed any signs of not- in- my- backyard syndrome.”

If public debates can work that well for a project that big, Gauthier is convinced they’ll be just as effective in finding sustainabl­e solutions for our neighbourh­oods.

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