Senneville should keep open mind on development plan

Striking a balance. It’s a goal everyone strives to achieve, but often it’s a struggle. Work-life. Exercise and diet. How much homework is too much? How much time should a kid spend in front of a screen? Does an extra serving of broccoli on Sunday offset the effects of inhaling a bag of potato chips on Saturday? It’s all a balancing act.

It’s the same for municipal councils: When does progress become too much change? Striking that balance, that delicate calibration, is almost an art, an exercise in outlining a vision and effectively communicating its benefits. Councils also have the added burden of attempting to achieve this in front of an audience who are quick to criticize. It’s not easy. But necessary. That challenge is being felt by Senneville council. Last week, the tiny town’s elected officials unveiled the development plan for a tract of land that has been the focus of much debate during the last few years. The plan would permit the construction of 83 single-family homes. Compared with planned developments in other municipalities, this does not seem that big a deal. But in Senneville, a town with a population that just tops 900, it’s huge. The plan could increase the municipality’s population by 20 per cent. That makes striking a balance tough, especially when everyone wants the town to remain small. They like it like that.

Anticipating a lot of opposition, council set out on a course to level the scales. At a public consultation meeting councillor Brian McManus made it clear that all elected officials were firmly in favour of the plan. They backed it 100 per cent. Then he asked residents to give it a chance. That’s right, he urged calm, and asked that they consider the merits of the project and invited them to ask questions before reacting negatively and rejecting it.

He wants the plan to be realized. In order for that to happen, it requires zoning changes. And zoning changes mean residents get a say. It is possible, then, for residents to block the project by rejecting the zoning changes required. And this is where striking a balance comes into play: If the housing project is scrapped, Senneville would fail to meet the density requirements imposed by the Montreal agglomeration council in its Land Use and Development Plan adopted in 2015. If this happens, it is conceivable that the agglomeration will eventually impose stricter development norms. It’s a move that could be years away, but would not serve the long-term vision of how residents want their town to expand.

So should Senneville residents embrace this development plan that meet the minimum density requirements set by the agglomeration? Or, reject it and risk a bigger development down the road?

It’s not a new debate in Senneville. When discussions of developing this very same tract of land first surfaced, the momentum to outright reject any notion of developing it was fierce. The 59-acre expanse had just been sold by the federal government to a private developer. No development was the popular stance. The issue was even the subject of a referendum that was held in tandem with the municipal election in 2013. The residents made it clear. They rejected the former council’s plan that proposed a master urban plan that would allow it to be developed. A new council was elected, which included individuals who openly denounced the old council’s urban plan. Then, in 2015, the agglomeration adopted new guidelines. Because Senneville did not have an urban plan in place, it is now subject to stricter guidelines. The result is that the new council was forced to approve an urban plan that actually allows for more development than the previous council’s plan had. Striking that balance between development and preservation is now harder.

Senneville residents should give this current plan fair consideration. All-or-nothing gambles don’t always end well. Allowing a little growth might be the surest path to staying small. It’s about striking a balance.