The municipality of Saint-Lin-Laurentides, in Lanaudière, no longer wants agricultural dezoning on its territory. It withdraws its requests, which targeted nearly seven hectares of land, and asks the MRC de Montcalm to modify its development plan accordingly.
“Over a horizon of 15, 20 or 50 years, the protection of agricultural land will bring much more to the community than tax revenue, because the climate emergency, we are in it and every little gesture counts from today. today”, justified the mayor of Saint-Lin–Laurentides, Mathieu Maisonneuve, in a telephone interview with The Press.
The previous municipal administration had asked the MRC that 6.71 hectares of its territory be excluded from the agricultural zone so that they could be developed for commercial purposes. The MRC had integrated this element into its development plan, and had to submit a request for dezoning to the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec (CPTAQ). The resolution adopted by Saint-Lin in mid-November withdraws these requests for exclusion and calls on the MRC to modify its plan “in order to reflect the will of the city council”.
The prefect of the MRC, Patrick Massé, did not want to comment on this resolution on Monday.
“Since the prefect is the spokesperson for all elected officials in the region, a discussion must take place with them in order to discuss the subject,” replied his spokesperson by email.
Mr. Massé was mayor of Saint-Lin for eight years, until the last municipal elections, where he instead chose to run for the seat of prefect.
A council meeting of the MRC de Montcalm is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Controversial dezoning
The massive dezoning planned by the MRC de Montcalm has drawn a shower of criticism in recent years. The development plan approved by the Legault government in 2019 provided for the change of vocation of 160 hectares of agricultural land in 10 municipalities, including Saint-Lin.
The lands that Saint-Lin now refuses to see dezoned belong to “five or six different owners,” said Mayor Maisonneuve. A week after the adoption of his resolution, no one had yet contacted him, he told us.
“I don’t play Monopoly and I’m not responsible for the choices investors make with their money,” said the former Scotia banker, who consulted city planners and his legal departments before presenting his resolution.
Many people and companies have purchased land anticipating dezoning and capital appreciation. It’s a risk that these people take. Just because it’s always paid off for the last 20, 30 or 40 years doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.
Mathieu Maisonneuve, Mayor of Saint-Lin–Laurentides
Saint-Lin had adopted a first shock resolution in December 2021, prohibiting new residential construction because of the lack of drinking water.
The agricultural land targeted by the resolution of November 14 was more dedicated to commercial use, but “it’s still connected to water,” notes Mr. Maisonneuve.
“If we artificialise our entire territory, we won’t have to wonder, in 20 years, why the water table is only going down! »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mathieu Maisonneuve, Mayor of Saint-Lin–Laurentides
In Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan, also in the MRC de Montcalm, Mayor Sébastien Marcil welcomes the resolution adopted in Saint-Lin. “We got there. Development begins and ends somewhere: believing that we can do it in perpetuity will necessarily be to the detriment of our quality of life. It’s the same for planet Earth,” says Marcil.
The Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) also welcomes the initiative of the mayor of Saint-Lin, as well as his commitment to “better development” of the territory.
I found his speech refreshing. It’s easy to sprawl, especially on farmland that’s already leveled, drained and treeless.
Charles-Félix Ross, General Manager of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA)
Saint-Lin can meet its needs for commercial space by “consolidating environments” and “rebuilding the city on itself”, pleads its mayor.
“We have a package of commercial land where the value of the land is higher than that of the building. This is a sign that there is room to densify and improve the places already designated as commercial. »
Mr. Maisonneuve hopes that other mayors in the province will ask themselves if it is really necessary for them “to encroach on the agricultural zone to meet the needs of the population”. And beyond these analyses, “it is sure that personally and politically, I would like to seek public support with my fellow mayors and mayors”.
In the meantime, the video in which he explains his resolution, planted near a field in high winds, has already garnered dozens of positive comments on the municipality’s Facebook page.
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- The 6.71 hectares of agricultural land which Saint-Lin wants to stop the dezoning represent the equivalent of nearly 10 American football fields.
Source: Saint-Lin–Laurentides