Aéroports de Montréal is concerned that the height of buildings in future residential neighborhoods planned in the metropolis will affect its current activities. Its management is demanding that developers now sign agreements to recognize the disadvantages associated with living near an airport terminal.
“With the intensification of real estate projects in the region, we are concerned that certain developments could affect the continuity of operations. It happens elsewhere in Canada,” argued Thursday the vice-president of public affairs of Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), Martin Massé, who testified before the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM).
This week he is hearing several groups as part of the final drafting of the Urban Planning and Mobility Plan (PUM) 2050. With the latter, the City wants to accelerate the densification of its territory in order to deliver 200,000 housing units of more than within 25 years, while accelerating public transport projects.
Read the article “Editorial interview with Valérie Plante: objective: 200,000 more housing units by 2050”
For Mr. Massé, however, the City should clearly “seek to avoid building new homes on flight paths”.
If the decision to build is maintained, then we must mitigate by various measures, including soundproofing requirements.
Martin Massé, vice-president of public affairs at Aéroports de Montréal
The manager also believes that to “cohabit with the airport”, the Plante administration should impose “the signing of an agreement by buyers of new residential developments recognizing the presence of the airport and its potential externalities”. In other words: requiring that the future resident of the premises legally means that he recognizes that he will potentially be disturbed by the noise.
“Is it part of the notarial deed, the posting of a sale of the house? Should this be a mentioned clause? We do not hesitate to mention that it is close to a school or a metro station, but often, we do not mention that the airport is nearby,” noted Mr. Massé.
In the office of the mayor of Montreal, they respond that “ADM’s comments are very surprising”. “Montreal is currently going through a housing crisis and a poverty crisis. The creation of housing is not a whim, it is a necessity to offer a roof to everyone and the vast majority of our partners are supportive of our efforts”, affirms the press officer, Simon Charron, specifying that the development plan “already contains measures aimed at taking into account the presence of the airport”.
Opposition still strong
This outing comes at a time when more and more Montrealers say they are irritated by plane noise, in several neighborhoods. Founded in 2012, the organization “Les Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau” notably measured last year peaks exceeding 80 decibels of noise generated around the airport.
According to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), “prolonged exposure to loud noises”, i.e. more than 75 decibels for eight hours a day, can “cause progressive hearing loss”. Sleep can also “be disturbed by a noise of 40 decibels”.
“There is no question of letting a polluter like ADM and other aviation players in Montreal determine what is good and acceptable for the citizens, who live under the air corridors and near the airport,” he said again. recently the citizen group founded in 2012, on social networks.
A transport hub closer to the A20
Mr. Massé also took advantage of his outing on Thursday to recall that the airport site “does not have the capacity to absorb and accommodate transport infrastructure”. “We will already have the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) station in 2027. […]but for the future, we believe that we must constitute an intermodality hub closer to Highway 20 and the Dorval roundabout, where the possible high frequency train (TGF), VIA Rail trains, the Grand Sud-Ouest, exo trains and buses from the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) should meet again,” he said.