Royalmount | The new mayor of Mount-Royal says no to condos

The Mont-Royal elections are a game-changer for Royalmount, a giant project by promoter Carbonleo, whose first phase is under construction at the intersection of highways 15 and 40.

Suzanne Colpron
Press

The new mayor, Peter Malouf, a neophyte in politics, has made his opposition to the residential component of this project one of the central elements of his campaign. After a solid victory, he is adamant: the zoning change requested to build 3250 housing units will not be granted.

“It’s final,” said the elected 69-year-old, in an interview with Press.

This position does not sign the death of Royalmount. A large part of this gigantic complex is based on the construction of offices and a shopping and entertainment center that respects the current zoning. But the withdrawal of the residential component harms its balance, believe its defenders.

“It’s a bit flat”

Andrew Lutfy, President and CEO of Carbonleo, responded with philosophy to this new political context.

“It’s a bit boring,” he said to Press. Obviously, this is not what we would have liked. I understand, the mayor is new to politics. It is an incredible large-scale project. It’s normal that he wants to understand it properly. You never know, maybe they have good points, ideas that you wouldn’t have thought of. ”

Mr. Lutfy, who refuses to throw in the towel, recalls that this project, entirely financed by the private sector, represents an investment of 7 billion over 15 years, including 4 billion within 10 years.

“Today, we are turning the page, we are in solution mode,” he says. I am sure and certain that we will succeed in meeting them, his team and him. ”

“We will present the project to them, we will listen to them and we will work together. There are always failures in life, there are always conflicts. But, in the end, we are all reasonable. We sit down together and find solutions. We listen, we listen, we listen, we listen. This is what we have done so far. ”

” Period “

The new mayor, an entrepreneur working in particular in the field of technology, had so far refused to meet the promoter, who is also at the origin of the DIX30, in Brossard.

“I refused to meet with them because I studied all the presentations that were made, all the public consultations,” he explains. What more can they show me? I even went to visit their presentation booth to sell condos here in Mont-Royal. ”

Now that he is elected, Peter Malouf says he is however ready to sit down with the leaders of Carbonleo. “We’re going to meet them, but I’m not changing my decision. Period. I was elected in part on that. ”

According to him, the people of Montreal do not want the residential part of this megaproject, because of the pressure that these new residents would exert on municipal services and infrastructure, in particular on automobile traffic, which is already extremely painful during rush hour. And behind, the fact that citizens are very satisfied with the status quo which is based on the unusual configuration of the city of 22,000 inhabitants, which includes a residential area of ​​the garden city type and a large industrial area completely cut off from the residential area by two highways.

“The industrial sector, recalls the mayor, brings us a lot of money. Industries operate 24 hours a day. They pay their taxes, create a lot of jobs, are autonomous and subsidize the residential side. It means that these people do not use our streets, not our parks, not our libraries, not our sports or leisure services. ”

For a neighborhood “on a human scale”

Paradoxically, the addition of a residential component to the Royalmount is precisely an element that had succeeded in reducing the strong opposition to this mastodon project, presented for the first time in May 2015. In a very severe report, filed in early 2019 , the Commission on Economic and Urban Development and Housing had recommended its suspension in order to review its planning, to make it a “complete district on a human scale”.

The City of Montreal had insisted, for its part, on the importance of providing it with a residential component.

The CEO of Carbonleo emphasizes that it is precisely to meet the requirements of groups of residents and of the mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, that he added a residential vocation to his commercial project. But nothing has been planned for affordable and social housing.

3,250 housing units planned

The new version, unveiled in February 2020, provides for 3,250 housing units, a 2,800-seat performance hall, hotels, offices and shops, including several restaurants, public squares and a suspended linear park, inspired by the High Line, in New York, on a 100% pedestrianized site. The promoter also plans to build a footbridge over Décarie Boulevard to link De la Savane metro station to Royalmount.

“We have the capacity to build up to 12 or 14 million square feet of commercial space,” adds Mr. Lutfy. The question is, are we doing an all-commercial project from the 1970s and 1980s, or are we doing a world-class mixed-use project? ”

The commercial phase, whose construction resumed after a one-year shutdown, must be delivered at the end of 2023 with a year delay, due to the pandemic. It represents less than 20% of the whole.

The fence will remain

The mayor of Mount-Royal, Peter Malouf, does not intend to remove the fence between the city and Parc-Extension, along Boulevard de l’Acadie. “What fence? he says. I see a hedge and trees. After that, I see six lanes for cars. There are openings in the fence, and we are going to rearrange them to ensure the safety of cyclists. ”

Traffic control

To remedy the traffic problems, which increase over the years, the new mayor, elected with 55.47% of the vote, is studying the possibility of controlling access to Mount Royal at peak times. “With smart traffic lights, you can change the direction of traffic during rush hour,” he explains.