It will be necessary to create a vegetated “buffer zone” between the train tracks and the nearby residences on the site of the Ray-Mont Logistiques container terminal to make the project “more acceptable to all parties”, concludes a group report. work released Tuesday.
“The most acceptable scenario for all parties includes collaboration with Canadian National (CN), with the aim of creating a buffer zone between rail operations and homes,” reads the report of the thematic working group Ray. -Mont Logistiques, made public five days before the elections.
Bringing together citizens, municipal representatives and the company, the working group studied the measures to be put in place since August to make this transshipment project located in Hochelaga “socially acceptable”.
Ray-Mont Logistiques first acquired the land of the former Canadian Steel foundry, between Hochelaga and Notre-Dame streets, in 2016. The company wants to build a large terminal for direct transshipment of bulk to container there. In 2017, the borough initially refused to issue the permits. Two lawsuits followed, which Ray-Mont Logistiques won.
Set of recommendations
In the report, it is specified that the creation of the buffer zone could result in “the acquisition of part of the CN lot by the City” to “create a green space”. This green sector would in fact be located between the Ray-Mont Logistiques land and the Viauville district. It would then be necessary “to decontaminate the site if necessary while preserving the most natural elements”, one warns.
According to the report, it will also be necessary to “evaluate the various options for moving the rails and transshipment operations of Ray-Mont Logistiques as far as possible from the residences”, with a distance of “300 meters if possible”.
“Noisy” and dust-generating areas should also be placed “as far as possible” from the residential area. “Providing moments without operations during the night” is also an option to reduce nuisances, it is argued.
In order to “compensate for the impact of Ray-Mont Logistiques on the environment”, the group also recommends that buildings constructed on the site be LEED certified “and that they include adequately sunny green roofs”. “We also suggest evaluating the feasibility of“ creating sustainable east-west and north-south mobility axes ”on or near the site.
Towards a BAPE?
At the mobilization 6600 citizen group, spokesperson Cassandre Charbonneau-Jobin welcomed these new measures, deploring, however, that “several scenarios that were to be on the table were ultimately not studied”. “We understand that it probably comes from upstream negotiations between the City and the company,” she lambasted.
“We can hardly disagree with the statements, but the process was so flawed from the start that on our side, we consider it a failure. It now takes provincial action. This project cannot be carried out without a serious impact study, and without a BAPE, ”adds the citizen.
The promoter Charles Raymond, he indicated that he will begin “from now on the gradual integration of several proposed measures”. “Our avowed and sincere wish is to develop a project that is respectful of the community and exemplary”, he recalled, speaking of a dialogue which proved “necessary” for the future. “We take every opportunity to improve the project,” he insisted.