Talks remain uncertain for lots in Angell Woods

Whether or not negotiations for the remaining privately-owned land in Angell Woods are actually ongoing boils down to semantics. Far from a black or white scenario, the situation enters a grey zone with one side saying it has reached out on numerous occasions to invite the private owners to sit down for a talk about numbers and the other side insisting no invitation that could be taken seriously has been proffered.

The protracted back and forth between two companies, which own sizable portions of the woods, and Montreal reaches back two years. Seda Holdings owns 17.65 hectares and Yale Properties owns 32.5 hectares. Negotiations are handled by Montreal’s Service de gestion et de planification immobilière (SGPI).

Talk of the status of negotiations heated up two weeks ago when it was announced that Montreal’s Agglomeration Council had purchased a significant tract of privatelyowned land in Angell Woods in Beaconsfield for $3.5 million. The purchase is part of an ongoing push to acquire all privately-owned land in the woods that would then allow for the creation of a recreational corridor reaching from Beaurepaire Station in the south to Cap St-Jacques Nature Park to the north.

City executive committee member Russell Copeman and Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle made the announcement at Beaconsfield City Hall on Oct. 22.

Because Copeman is an elected official, he doesn’t participate in the negotiations and so would not comment on their status the day of the announcement.

Speaking for Seda Holdings, Diana Shahmoon told the Montreal Gazette in November 2014 that she had no problem with the land being designated a conservation zone, but that she wanted a fair price.

Last week, she sent the Montreal Gazette a breakdown of how and when communications took place between Seda and the city over the last two years.

In May 2013, Shahmoon was contacted by city real-estate consultant Guillaume Topp. He said the city would like to acquire its land. A formal request to set up a time to sit down and negotiate was made by Topp to Shahmoon on Sept. 25, 2013, but by that time she had heard the details of an offer that was made to Yale Properties. She did not respond to the request to meet.

On Nov. 12, 2013, Shahmoon wrote to Topp that communications had broken down because the offer she had heard about was “really not serious.”

In early November 2014, Shahmoon was contacted by another city official stating that because an offer had been made, negotiations were underway. On Nov. 25, 2014, Shahmoon, in an email, said she would be willing to meet if there was another offer on the table. She said she has not heard back since.

Yale Properties could not be reached for comment.