Nicole Turenne is happy in her “old” house on Boulevard Notre-Dame-des-Champs, in Repentigny, in which she has lived for over 70 years. To the annoyance of real estate developers looking for new land, the septuagenarian intends to stay there as long as she keeps her good shape.
“It’s scary the number of agents [immobiliers] who call me! I am made that I do not answer any more. I say to myself: “I’m not ready” ”, confides the school crossing guard with 46 years of work behind the stop sign: 34 years old at the corner of Claude-David / Notre-Dame and 12 years old at the corner of Iberville / Laforest, where The duty the crossing. “Even my daughter said to me: ‘Your house is old!’ She may be old, but the old woman loves her! “
Nicole Turenne does what is necessary in the morning, noon and afternoon so that the neighborhood children can go to school or come back safely. “Everyone says to me: ‘Let go of your work!’ Excuse me, but the world is not minding its own business, ”she says, before bursting into laughter. “You haven’t finished seeing me!” “
The native of Cornwall, Ontario, also remains deaf to the calls of some of her relatives inviting her to move into one of the two 30-story towers that have grown on the banks of the St. Lawrence River – Sélection Retraite (334 units) and Résidences Soleil (476 units). “Pay 1200 [dollars] for a condo… You are not even at home, even if I know there is the washer, the dryer, the stove… ”said the woman having recently been classified as“ heritage ”from Repentigny.
Nicole Turenne has seen Repentigny transform before her eyes for seven decades. “ I saw it build. I see it being destroyed, ”she underlines, before adding:“ They threw a house on the ground next to my house and they rented six apartments. “
The population of the municipality of Lanaudière has jumped from 73,554 to 86,468 people in nearly 20 years (2001-2020), according to the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Development possibilities are now limited in Repentigny, which has already subdivided “99.9%” of its territory, insofar as the municipality renounces any inclination to request the dezoning of agricultural land.
To comply with the Metropolitan Land Use and Development Plan for Greater Montreal, the City is developing “dense, compact and mixed living environments”, in addition to promoting “active and public transportation” and protecting natural and agricultural environments. . Concretely, it relies in particular on the erection of residential towers of 20 floors or less and residences for the elderly of 30 floors or less in a “well-defined sector”, the side of the river – which does not make the difference. unanimity.
Indeed, the three candidates for mayor of Repentigny – Nicolas Dufour (Avenir Repentigny), Éric Chartré (Repentigny Ensemble) and Martin Nadon (Democratic Party of Repentigny-Le Gardeur) – are divided on the recommended “development strategy by densification”. by the administration of the mayor, Chantal Deschamps, who is preparing to draw a line over 24 years of political life. “Put a stop to the frantic construction of condo towers along the St. Lawrence River”, can one read in particular in the list of electoral promises of Nicolas Dufour.
What is the alternative to starting a 30-storey high-rise building? The construction of 400 single-family homes and miles and miles of streets, sidewalks, sewage and water pipes on 23 hectares of farmland? The mayor asked these questions over the summer, seeing the growing concern over the appearance of the new towers.
The latter has undertaken to open new “windows” towards the river by means of right of way for pedestrians and cyclists behind each new waterfront real estate project and a fourth park along the river, the park of Anse, financed from the fees imposed on real estate developers.
The work at the bottom of the two new residential towers for people aged 55 and over on rue Notre-Dame has led to an increase in road traffic on boulevard Iberville, notes Nicole Turenne. “I’m used to traffic,” says the school crossing guard.
She gratifies with a “Hi, sweetheart!” “Or even a” Hello, friends! The schoolchildren stopping beside him. “I like my work like this as if I were just starting out,” she exclaims, while remembering not to ” [être] supposed to communicate with journalists ”. “I don’t have a car, I have my friends, I have my job and I have my house. I am overwhelmed with life! [Repentigny,] it is the city of happiness! She continues.