The all-out densification of Lévis is creating tensions in a neighborhood of single-family homes in Saint-Nicolas, where three-story buildings are emerging from the ground just a few meters from the backyards. The affected owners have been trying to obtain an explanation from the City for more than a year, but to no avail: no elected official has deigned to respond to them since August 2022.
Since purchasing his house in 2014, Jean-François Bélanger and his family have enjoyed a breathtaking view of the river and the Quebec and Pierre-Laporte bridges. In the summer, the little family used to relax in front of the landscape, their feet soaking in the swimming pool or the spa.
Today, a three-story building under construction obstructs their view. The building grows barely 5 meters from their courtyard and is part of a project of more than 140 housing units erected between rue de la Corniche and chemin de l’Anse-Gingras.
“As soon as I saw it going up, I wanted to put the key in the lock and leave. Intimacy is over for us, laments Jean-François Bélanger. I no longer have any desire to stay here, but right now it’s unsellable: how many tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars will I lose if I sell my house? »
Others in the neighborhood are also subject to the City’s desire for densification. “I’m going to have a car 1 meter from my swimming pool,” laments André Bédard, a construction contractor who lives on rue de la Corniche.
“There will be 24 patio doors that will open onto our land,” calculates Karrel Paquet, his wife. Before, around ten trees stood on the vacant lot behind their residence. Only stumps remain. “There was a tree probably a hundred years old in there, the trunk must have been at least 6 feet in diameter,” remembers André Bédard. They cut it all off. »
No response for a year
Last week, he and his partner posted a video on Facebook showing the felling of the venerable tree. Since then, the reactions have been flowing: “It’s heartbreaking to see what the City has approved,” wrote one user. No danger of them keeping a little greenery for families. They overcame the rest of us: we sacked our camp. »
“It’s the same on Guillaume-Couture in Lauzon,” replies another about the boulevard which crosses the town from east to west. The houses in the back have lots of eyes on their patios. »
“If the citizen were really at the heart of the concerns of elected officials,” lamented Karrel Paquet in a publication, “they would have taken the time to come and consult, discuss and hear the citizens concerned by this major change, this loss of quality of life and of tranquility. » However, no one in the City has deigned to respond to them until now.
” I wrote [au maire] Gilles Lehouillier, to councilors Jeannot Demers of the Saint-Nicolas district, to Isabelle Demers of the Villieu district, the one where we live, and to the councilor of the Saint-Rédempteur district, Réjean Lamontagne, to ask them for explanations, explains Jean-François Bélanger. It was August 25, 2022, I relaunched them last November 23. I’m still waiting for the answer. »
In these emails, the citizen asks elected officials to see “this as an honest attempt to discuss with you!” » After a year of waiting, he noticed that he was the only one who wanted this dialogue. “I find it disgusting, quite frankly. I was born in Lévis and I have lived in Lévis for 46 years. I am a good tax payer and to have so little consideration from people who are supposed to serve us, I can’t believe it. I didn’t even get the slightest acknowledgment of receipt! the owner is indignant.
To top it off, residents of rue de la Corniche affected by the construction of the building saw their property assessment jump by $80,000 this summer. “That represents,” calculates André Bédard, “around $800 more on my municipal tax bill. »
A city shaken by its real estate boom
For several years, Lévis has experienced dazzling development: condominium housing towers are sprouting up where multi-storey buildings, just a decade ago, could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The City is proud to issue, year after year, a record number of building permits. Its demographic growth “makes it one of the most dynamic cities in Quebec,” according to the municipality. Since 2016, its population has grown by almost 12,000 citizens to reach, today, almost 155,000 people.
This frenetic development disrupts peaceful neighborhoods and raises questions about the traffic generated by the massive influx of motorists in areas unaccustomed to accommodating cars.
Cynthia Darras lives in a house located on Chemin de l’Anse-Gingras, on the other side of the new subdivision. She deplores the incessant passage of trucks, for two years, on this small lane where two cars barely manage to pass each other. “What will it look like,” she worries, “when there are 140 households in these buildings? The street has no sidewalk and there are more and more children living here. Is the City waiting until there is a death before doing something? »
The duty tried to speak to Isabelle Demers, member of the team in power and elected official from the sector where the affected citizens live. The newspaper was no more fortunate than the latter and had had no response from the cabinet at the time these lines were written.
Legal action contemplated
The opposition, at City Hall, does not intend to stop there. Councilors Serge Bonin and Alexandre Fallu, of the Repensons Lévis party, are asking that financial compensation be granted to owners affected by the Saint-Nicolas real estate project and that mitigation measures be put in place by the City.
They also demand a review of the regulations so that elected officials can know downstream the real estate projects approved by the City in order to decide on them.
Monday evening, Jean-François Bélanger and his neighbors plan to express their grievances before the municipal council. The Lévisien does not rule out going to court to assert his rights.
“I am not at all against development, on the contrary, but I am against anything, anywhere, any way. I want the mayor to take 30 minutes to come look at the monumental mistake his city has made. Politicians, he concludes, cannot come and ask for our votes once every four years and then disappear…”