St. Jerome | “We want to densify our city center”

While some cities want densification to take place far from the urban core, such as Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, which wants to preserve the “village” character of its downtown, other municipalities are taking the bull by the horns to frame development and counter sprawl.

Suzanne Colpron
The Press

This is the case of Saint-Jérôme, in the Laurentians, where, on Monday evening, Mayor Marc Bourcier and the municipal council unanimously adopted, during a special meeting, a strong resolution which will impose a financial contribution on developers and who will oversee future real estate development.

“The intermodal station is near the city center, explains the mayor in an interview with The Press, in the streets of the city of 81,000 inhabitants. With densification, we want people to travel on foot or by bicycle to obtain services, to go to the theater or to a restaurant. »

The resolution voted on Monday evening marks, according to him, “a major turning point for Saint-Jérôme”.

“The result will lead to greater tax fairness among citizens. It is time for our city to fully adhere to the principles of densification of the existing urban fabric to counter urban sprawl and reduce the pressure on natural environments,” he explained during the extraordinary meeting.

Over the next five years, Saint-Jérôme intends to prioritize real estate projects that will meet the following objectives: revitalize and develop its downtown, develop a “Health District”, industrial and commercial sectors, projects to complete existing streets and those located on land served by existing infrastructure. These measures will allow the City to “define its sandbox”.

A new regulation also provides for a contribution of $2,500 per new dwelling to be paid by the promoter. For non-residential, it will be $10 per square meter of habitable floor.

“We oversee future developments for future generations,” said the mayor. We define the sandbox where the players will be able to play. In fact, we define the place where the densification must take place. After that, we define the area where the Saint-Jérôme Health District should be developed. We also delimit the place where there must be industries and businesses. »

Finished, the Wild West

Mr. Bourcier is aware that this will not please everyone.

A retired teacher, Marc Bourcier was elected under the PQ banner during the by-election held following the resignation of Pierre Karl Péladeau in the riding of Saint-Jérôme in 2016. Defeated by the Coalition avenir Québec in 2018, he returned to municipal politics at a time when the city was rocked by scandals. After a clear victory, in November 2021, where he had 10 councilors elected, he dissolved the party he had founded and now sits as an independent mayor.

“We have 12 advisers,” he notes. They are free to think, to vote as they wish, there is no party line. But all the advisers agree with this orientation. It is unanimous. »

It must be said that Saint-Jérôme has urban assets that can facilitate successful densification, with its CEGEP, its hospital, a branch of the Université du Québec en Outaouais, a theatre, a cathedral and several restaurants and bars. The city is, moreover, crossed by a river and is the starting point of the long cycle path of the P’tit train du Nord, which sees 250,000 cyclists pass each summer.

In A very ordinary town, Robert Charlebois sang: “Then the world of Saint-Jérôme, especially the world; Because there are a lot of people in Saint-Jérôme; A chance ; Good people when they find; Because work is rare in Saint-Jérôme; They have to work”.

“It has changed, recalls Mayor Bourcier, who has spent his entire life in this city. There is a craze for our industrial land. We are able to prioritize industries on the technological side and in transportation electrification because that is where we are going. We want the Laurentians to be a zone of innovation. »