N.D.G. man vows to push for ‘real’ consultation on Mount Royal road

A Notre-Dame-de-Grâce businessman says he will go ahead with his official demand for a public consultation on the pilot project to block through traffic over Mount Royal, even though the Plante administration has already announced a public consultation will be held in May.

Mayor Valérie Plante said Tuesday that the Office de consultation publique de Montréal would hold hearings on the pilot project starting May 1, and that the project itself will run from June 1 to Oct. 31. During that period, cars will be allowed to access parking lots on the mountain using Remembrance Road from the east or CamillienHoude Way from the west, but not to drive over from west to east. She said more details will be announced in about a month.

But Michael Silas, who owns the Typhoon Lounge on Monkland Ave. in N.D.G., said the administration only decided to hold a public hearing on the issue to “hijack” his efforts to stall the pilot project until after public hearings are held.

Silas used a provision in the city ’s charter that allows any citizen to request the OCPM hold public hearings on an issue, as long as the city clerk rules the issue is admissible, and they have 15,000 signatures supporting hearings.

The first step required Silas to first get 25 signatures and submit the request to the city clerk’s office. The office told him Thursday that his request was admissible. But it also told him of an executive committee decision made Wednesday ordering the OCPM to hold a public consultation on the project.

Silas said he will go ahead, though the process could take up to a year. He said he does not believe the Plante administration will ask the right questions of the OCPM in its hearings.