Barbe Creek Woods | Laval did not protect an environment of “high ecological value”

There is only one way to save one of the last natural environments in Laval, threatened by an industrial development project: the City must acquire the land for preservation purposes.

Delphine Belzile
The Press

In an access to information request, the Parti Laval, the official opposition, recently discovered that the City had been notified in 2019 of the industrial development project which today threatens the natural environment of the Barbe stream. This stream stretches over 30 hectares of forest and swamps, at the crossroads of highways 13 and 440. According to the Laval Regional Council for the Environment (CRE), it is an area of ​​”high ecological value”.

At the time, the administration could have exerted pressure to block the project, according to Claude Larochelle, municipal councilor in Fabreville.

In 2020, one of the targeted lots would have been purchased for more than 9 million dollars by Développement M SEC, a partnership bringing together the Montoni group and Monarch, according to the property assessment and taxation roll of the City of Laval.

However, the law allows cities to carry out expropriation for municipal purposes with compensation paid to the owner, explains Philippe Biuzzi, lawyer at the Center québécois du droit de l’environnement. The City of Laval could ensure the protection of the natural environment by expropriation by creating a municipal park, for example, he adds. However, such an intervention would cost too much, according to Stéphane Boyer, mayor of Laval.

In the wake of the demands, the outgoing MP for Sainte-Rose, the caquiste Christopher Skeete, pledged to support the City to preserve the woods of Barbe Creek, without setting out specific measures.

“If the City of Laval wishes to prioritize the project to protect the Barbe stream forest, we are committed to supporting it in its efforts and to participating financially,” reads a letter from the Coalition avenir Québec sent to the CRE and viewed by The Press.

Fabreville’s lung

To preserve what it describes as the “lung of the Fabreville district”, the Barbe Creek Protection Committee continues to bring together the citizens of Laval to put pressure on politicians. Committee director Diane Labelle said she was “extremely disappointed” with the mayor’s response at the last city council meeting.

Moreover, Laval has zoned two-thirds of the natural environment of the Barbe stream as a “wetland of interest”, in its interim control regulation for the protection of wetlands, addressed in 2020.

“In recent years, we have gone from 3% to 12% of the area of ​​Laval territory protected. We still managed to quadruple it, ”said Mayor Boyer to the city council.

In 2021, the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC) granted a backfilling permit to the owner of the land which encroaches on the natural environment of the Barbe stream, the last in Fabreville. In return, the Department also demanded a financial contribution of $4 million to be paid into the State’s Environment and Water Domain Protection Fund.

According to the MELCC, the promoter’s request was first analyzed “according to the law, regulations and government guidelines in force”.

The proponent now plans to backfill seven hectares of the wetland for an industrial project.

“Montoni is open to all discussions for a harmonious cohabitation of the territory”, underlines Alexandra Cordisco-Moreau, public affairs advisor of the Montoni Group.

The Barbe stream protection committee calls for a reform of the Environment Quality Act, to give cities more power to protect their natural environments. Until 2017, cities had the power to issue a reservation on land before the Ministry issued a backfilling permit, explains Claude Larochelle. “This power no longer exists for cities. What it takes is political leadership. »