CONDOS ARE A VILLAGE’S SCOURGE

All too often developers are able to replace character buildings with modern blandness

The recent resignation of PointeClaire heritage society president Claude Arsenault certainly smacks of the adage, “You can’t fight city hall.” Arsenault has had his fill of 18 years of butting heads with a proverbial rhino. It came to a head, so to speak, with a real estate agency (prematurely) crowing over the still warm corpse of Pointe-Claire Village’s Pioneer being circled by condobuilding vultures. (Supposedly, it’s not a done deal. Do you really believe that?)

One has to assume that the smoke of rumour invariably turns into the fire of luxury condo and townhouse development. The “luxury” part must deeply sadden the heritage fighter. Who wouldn’t want to live on top of the village if they had enough money and no conscience for historical validity?

Funny how the term “funny” is least so when used in the context of irony as in: Funny, upon looking at an old photo of the original Pointe-Claire Hotel how wonderful it would look today if it had been restored and still functioning as a watering hole for visitors. That sort of charming commercial venture would fly nicely on the Main. A retrostyle hotel is long overdue in the Village.

All too often, when one has an existing old building with character, with beautiful, artistically scrolled balconies and windows on a hot real estate footprint, a developer is allowed to bulldoze and replace it with modern bland; then run off with a nice profit, in search of the next heri- tage host to consume.

As the saga goes, Arsenault grew up in Pointe-Claire Village and watched 20 heritage buildings destroyed. All that class flushed down the drain with densification. Imagine if most of the original buildings had been restored instead of demolished before a few smart people got heritage consciousness. PointeClaire Village could have been the West Island’s version of Old Montreal. For that matter, imagine if Old Montreal had been replaced with condos. (Barf.)

I grew up on St-Urbain St. in the Plateau. Today, the tree-lined triplexes are a stunning reflection of what an area can look like if you refresh the original architecture instead of taking a crash and burn approach to neighbourhood planning. There used to be an old elementary school nearby — Devonshire — an original spot for Sun Youth as a community resource. The building is long gone to pancake condos. (Funny, how condos don’t seem to age well.)

Not far away and not long ago, the entire stretch of Ste- Catherine St. was illuminated with movie theatres. The insides were palatial. Now they are shoe stores and strip joints and whatnot complete with ugly facades.

(Footnote: The Rex Theatre; would it have killed the town to preserve it at any cost?)

Developers in the wrong places are scourges out to make a buck. I don’t blame them. I blame the administrations that let it happen.

So, with all due respect to a recent column: Condos key to limiting urban sprawl in West Island; Briana Tomkinson, West Island Gazette; June 27, 2018: “The West Island and Off-Island should follow the lead of Vancouver suburbs. If communities must increase housing density — and according to regional planning documents, we do — I hope it’s in the style of the best of Vancouver’s suburban condo projects.” (Except the city is so dense you have to walk sideways. Have you seen an aerial view of Vancouver?)

The undertow here is simple: Most people can no longer afford conventional housing in major cities. When did we stop calling condos what they actually are — apartments? The difference is you own one with a permanent mortgage payment called condo fees. Condos are necessary ant hills. Look at Toronto coming in from the east side of Gardiner Expressway. Looks like a city out of Star Wars. I think condos are a great idea along a major highway if owners clearly can accept that kind of living with your windows sealed. Highways are necessary eyesores so it make sense to have necessary condos (also eyesores) on those very long stretches of nothing.

Pointe-Claire Village — a jewel in the crown of the West Island should not suffer the ravages of “luxury” ant hills.