Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Mayor, I am writing to you as co-spokesperson for the Parc Sentiers des Bois de Sainte-Dorothée movement and as a citizen and mother of a Laval family for more than 30 years, because I am very concerned about the future of golf courses. of our territory.
When you were elected to the caucus of metropolitan municipalities of the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), you declared: “I am therefore committed to ensuring that this new caucus reflects a united and united metropolitan community. . More than ever, we will collaborate on the major issues of our metropolis. » I therefore address you as mayor and as vice-president of the council of the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM). I would have liked so much that you were present on June 16 when the CMM mobilized to supervise real estate development on golf courses by adopting the interim control regulations (RCI). Laval is the third largest city in Quebec and yet, no Laval golf course is on this list.
For months, many Laval citizens have been asking for your support in protecting the green spaces of the Cardinal, Islesmere and Laval-sur-le-Lac golf courses.
Moreover, during your election in November 2021, journalist Paul Journet said that you are a young and green mayor more concerned with the quality of life and green spaces than with the economy. Mr. Mayor, we are now counting on you to affirm your difference, to listen to the population and to global environmental concerns.
“We must accelerate the ecological transition. We have no more time to waste. We know it, the population tells us: it’s now or never,” insisted the mayor of Montreal and president of the CMM, Valérie Plante.1.
Lack of urban parks
As you know, the majority of large Canadian cities protect more than 2,000 hectares of parks, while in Laval, a low 500 hectares are protected for nearly 450,000 inhabitants. Even including golf courses, Laval does poorly in terms of urban parks. Ville de Laval’s Parks and Public Spaces Master Plan deplores this. “To properly fulfill their functions, parks and public spaces must be sufficient in quantity and accessible. […] As a result, 37 sub-sector units (USS) do not reach the threshold of 10 square meters per inhabitant […]. This represents nearly 207,000 people, or 49% of the Laval population, who live in an ASU that does not offer a minimally acceptable level of availability.2. »
Mr. Mayor, many citizens have filed a request for a moratorium on the future of golf courses by writing memoirs. Two briefs and two petitions sponsored by MPs Guy Ouellette and Sylvain Gaudreault were submitted by the Parc Sentiers des Bois movement. Our members took part in several events, the last of which brought together more than 150 people, not to mention our monthly participation in municipal councils. Do you hear our collective desire to preserve Laval’s last green spaces, including golf courses in transition?
Since July 12, the date of the draft urban planning code CDU-1 is fast approaching, Mr. Mayor, we ask you not to use the new urban planning code to accelerate the zoning change of these places. currently protected from residential development without the support of your citizens.
In the revised town planning and development plan, the golf courses in the west are structuring land to be transformed and not to be built, so there is no urgency that justifies the densification of the golf courses in priority.
But since it is important to plan for future developments, haven’t you instead thought of using vacant land, already concreted areas or others which represent more than 1570 hectares as described in this same document? We no longer want other developments such as the Cardinal golf course where a multitude of century-old trees have been cut without regard to the fauna and flora, without LEED type certification for sustainable development, and this, in order to build luxury homes accessible to a small minority of the population.
Today, I appeal to your vision of the future for your future children and for ours. For our collective well-being and our collective health, please listen to the population and environmental specialists by not rushing a decision that will have permanent negative effects for all. Mr. Boyer, listen to your citizens and do not allow the destruction of our last green spaces!