After the headlines | The barbecue that changed everything

It’s a story that starts off badly, but whose ending may surprise you.

In June 2022, my colleagues Maxime Bergeron and Lila Dussault recounted how a real estate developer who wanted to build 200 condos near the Chambly canal, a project that excited the municipality, had encountered opposition from a group of citizens. A typical case of “not in my backyard”, we understood^⁠1.

Lumicity on the Locks – this is the name of promoter Mario Gisondi’s project – nevertheless met the needs of a good number of Chambly residents, older people who no longer wanted to live in their big house, but who wanted to stay in their city . The project also met the densification requirements of the development plan of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal, of which Chambly is a part. Instead of encouraging urban sprawl, we want to concentrate a greater number of people on a smaller area in order to maximize infrastructure and reduce the use of cars. A question of common sense in these times of climate crisis.

But densification also means changing the face of a neighborhood and, above all, mourning the North American dream of the bungalow and the solo car.

However, this is what we have been told for decades. It is a symbol of success. And we would have to abandon it overnight without it hurting? So that it hurts people in what is most precious to them: their peace of mind, their sense of security, their very identity?

Let’s come back to Mario Gisondi. He’s not a cowboy promoter, he’d done his homework.

For its part, the City, very enthusiastic, had followed the consultation rules to the letter.

The problem is that around twenty owners residing on Canal Road, an area adjoining the future location of the condos, were not aware of the project. They learned of the upcoming arrival of hundreds of new neighbors and they were in shock. “Mea culpa, I had not read the local newspapers and therefore I had not seen the public notices,” one of these residents, lawyer François Normand, told me. My neighbors didn’t know it either. It was someone from the Chambly Citizen Movement who warned us. »

(Transparency here: I went to high school with François Normand in the 1980s.)

Mr. Normand therefore presents himself at the municipal council meeting where they are preparing to give the green light to Lumcité. He asks the City to suspend the vote while it checks the law. According to him, Chambly cannot move forward without the support of these twenty residents.

We stop everything

I will spare you the details that you will discover by returning to read the text of my colleagues, but the fact remains that the group of citizens ultimately imposes the holding of a referendum and that, seeing this, the municipal administration abandons the project. As for the developer, he filed a lawsuit against the City.

In short, in the summer of 2022, the devil is in the cows in Chambly.

I ask the mayor why she gave up so quickly. “We told ourselves that we would not go to court against our citizens,” explains Alexandra Labbé. And that’s without taking into account the cost of a referendum. Obviously, we had poorly explained the project and its objectives, we had to start again. »

Mario Gisondi, we guess, is disappointed. “It’s part of our reality,” he explains to me in hindsight. There are a lot of sleepless nights and resilience in our profession. »

Except the story doesn’t end there.

The day after his failure, the promoter gave François Normand a call. The latter is a little shaken by the media coverage of the affair which has earned him numerous insulting emails. “A lawyer even told me that I was a disgrace to the profession,” he says. However, I was absolutely not in bad faith. Deep down, I knew it didn’t make sense for 10 people to block such a big project. But it had to be a win-win for everyone. »

Before discussing the holding of a referendum, the lawyer had repeatedly asked City representatives to organize a meeting with the developer so that they could discuss things, in vain.

We can understand the reluctance of the City of Chambly. She is recovering from several scandals linked to the previous administration, she wants to be “more Catholic than the Pope”. “We didn’t want to give the impression of intervening,” confirms Mayor Alexandra Labbé.

After speaking with Mario Gisondi, François Normand decides to invite him to a barbecue to which he also invites his neighbors. “I’m a business lawyer, I do deals, every day, he said. When you start talking, communicating your worries and concerns, you always find a way to resolve things. »

“It was special to be there,” admits Mario Gisondi. The residents found the project big, but I explained to them that I could not reduce the number of units, because it would no longer have been profitable. »

In this more relaxed atmosphere, the neighbors express their reservations: they would like Canal Road – a bumpy gravel road – to be asphalted. They are also worried about what will happen to a neighboring wooded area. Finally, they fear that they will no longer be able to turn left, towards Estrie, at the exit of their street, which would cause them a long detour. The developer undertakes to defend their requests with the City and an agreement is reached. The project will finally be approved at a subsequent public meeting.

Talk to each other frankly

There are still several steps to take before the first shovel in the ground, but the promoter already has more than 150 people interested in his project.

“I lost a year,” observes Mr. Gisondi, “but I understand the reaction of citizens. They didn’t know and didn’t understand. They also used me to obtain guarantees from the City, and that is correct. I think this all shows the importance of communication and teamwork. We have to put our ego aside in these situations. »

“When everyone is in good faith, we achieve results,” underlines Mayor Alexandra Labbé. We must review our way of communicating with citizens to move away from confrontation. »

For François Normand too, the results are positive. “I got to know my neighbors, and people finally got along. But I think there could have been better communication from the start. »

It’s true that there are lessons to be learned from this story which, fortunately, ends well. Promoter Mario Gisondi worked in concert with the City and was transparent in his efforts, which everyone seemed to have appreciated.

When you are a citizen, it is important to keep informed of what is happening in your city if you want to assert your rights. And open-mindedness always pays off.

Finally, when you are a municipal elected official, you have to redouble your efforts to ensure that you reach the entire population who will be affected by a project. In this case, the City of Chambly could have distributed a letter to residents around the location of the future condo complex since there were only around twenty of them.

Notice to cities that want to densify: it takes skill, patience and a lot of explanations. Densification is a concept that is still poorly understood and must be explained again and again.

Of course, you can’t always have a barbecue. But we can always try to find common ground.