An industrial project that would result in the cutting of 57 trees in an already highly mineralized sector of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve was refused by the borough on Tuesday, learned The duty.
The Borough’s Demolition Committee considered on Tuesday a demolition request filed by the Canadian company Summit, which owns more than 150 industrial buildings in the country. The latter wishes to reduce to dust the one-story building located at 7101, rue Notre-Dame Est, which it has owned since 2018, to build a new one-story building that would include seven loading docks for heavy trucks.
The industrial project, which would also involve the cutting of 57 trees, has aroused the discontent of many residents of the L’Assomption Sud–Longue-Pointe sector, which is already sorely lacking in green spaces. In the last few days, the borough has also received 47 letters of opposition to the demolition project from citizens, indicates a report of the meeting held Tuesday morning by the borough’s Demolition Committee.
This committee, made up of eight people, including three elected officials from the borough, thus refused Summit’s demolition request because of the heritage value of the building that would be demolished and the environmental impacts of the project submitted. The borough mayor, Pierre Lessard-Blais, chairs this committee.
“We want to protect the industrial heritage in the sector”, explains to the To have to Maisonneuve–Longue-Pointe District Councilor Alia Hassan-Cournol, who sits on this committee. It notes that the residents of the sector “are attached” to the building that Summit wishes to demolish.
Built in the early 1950s, it first served as a research laboratory for the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson for decades before changing hands in 2013 and again in 2018. However, the building has been vacant since at least a year.
“We are in 2022; we are in a climate crisis. Businesses must go further, be bolder in the quality of the projects they propose to the borough. »
Congestion and the environment
On the other hand, “the members of the demolition committee wanted to make sure that we don’t create another giant that could add significant trucking” near residential neighborhoods where the Ray-Mont Logistiques container transshipment project already threatens to increase the presence of heavyweights, notes the adviser.
“The project does not provide enough information about truck traffic and future activities planned near residential sectors and sensitive areas,” notes the decision of the Demolition Committee, whose The duty got a copy.
The developer also proposed to plant many trees, but the Demolition Committee noted that even once these had reached maturity, the quality of the green spaces on this site would be less than it is. currently.
“We are in 2022; we are in a climate crisis. Companies must go further, be more daring in the quality of the projects they offer to the borough, ”insists Alia Hassan-Cournol, who however ensures that she is not opposed to the industrial development of the sector. “Now, it’s not any old how, at any price and above all not to the detriment of the quality of life of citizens and the environment. »
Summit has 30 days to appeal the decision of the Demolition Committee. She could also decide to revise her project and then file a new application for a demolition certificate, says Ms. Hassan-Cournol.
The company had not reacted when these lines were written.