L’Anse-à-l’Orme: Don’t build here

Re: “Flooding nixes consultation on Pierrefonds-Ouest” (Montreal Gazette, May 10)

Whether the proposed CapNature site for more than 5,000 houses in western Pierrefonds was flooded with the recent inundations or not is immaterial. Any development in this area with its paved streets and water-impervious buildings will put more water into the storm sewers, the L’Anse-àl’Orme and the Rivière des Prairies — and ultimately in someone’s basement downstream.

There are a number of issues to understand about this proposed project. The developers point out that while they would build in the 185 hectares of fields, 180 hectares of forest would be preserved.

The problem is that the ecology of the fields is distinct from the ecology of the forests.

The plants, birds and animals of the forest are different from those in the fields. Thus, building in the fields would destroy half the ecology of the region.

The wet meadows and fallow fields like this simply don’t exist elsewhere on the island.

Citizens everywhere should have a right to enjoy these unique lands.

One of the many ironies of this project is that not even the residents of the proposed new development would have a chance to enjoy this area because their very houses would be the cause of its destruction.

We do not need to build homes in this natural habitat.

Let the city and the developer work out an exchange arrangement.

The developer gets to build elsewhere, and the city gets bragging rights to having preserved an amazing wet meadow ecosystem.

Al Hayek, N.D.G.