At a time when several municipalities are facing the “bureaucratic heaviness” of Quebec and strong real estate pressures, the City of Laval can boast of having exceeded its targets for the protection of natural environments, learned The duty. Mayor Stéphane Boyer will make the announcement on Thursday as part of the first edition of the Biodiversity Summit for municipalities.
In 2009, Ville de Laval only protected 3.61% of the area of its territory, a percentage that has since quintupled to reach 18.27%, or 4,872.5 hectares, Mayor Boyer will reveal in the opening speech. of this summit, which will take place in a hotel on Île Jésus on Thursday. The third largest city in Quebec has thus exceeded by several percentage points the target of 14% protection of its territory that it had set for the horizon of… 2035.
The coming to power of Mr. Boyer, in November 2021, after the eight-year reign of Marc Demers at the head of Laval, was also followed by a series of acquisitions of green and wooded spaces by the City. .
The municipality thus estimates that 68 hectares of natural environments have been protected on its territory in the past year, following investments of $26 million from its budget, as well as with the help of the Montreal Metropolitan Community ( CMM) and Quebec. These acquisitions include in particular part of the Saint-François wood and the Auteuil wood, while land totaling 30 hectares was acquired last year on the edge of the Sainte-Dorothée and Équerre woods.
The City also acquired 568 hectares of islands and river lots last year as part of its project to expand the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles wildlife sanctuary, in order to make it one of the largest large parks in Quebec.
Moreover, 70% of the territory’s wetlands are now protected in Laval, despite the real estate pressures associated with some of these sites. The lot includes part of the Bois du Ruisseau Barbe, considered an endangered wetland, at the intersection of highways 13 and 440. In 2020, part of the wooded land had been acquired by a consortium of promoters wishing to carry out an industrial project, but one of the members of the consortium, the Montoni Group, finally agreed last year to cede two plots of land to the City for protection purposes.
The City of Laval does not intend to rest on its laurels, but rather to continue to protect its territory and to work on the greening of certain central districts which are still largely mineralized, affirms the mayor in his thirties. The CMM, chaired by the mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, has also set itself the target of protecting 30% of its territory by 2030, despite the phenomenon of urban sprawl that the greater Montreal region is experiencing. “We will continue to go further in the coming years,” promises Mr. Boyer.
bureaucratic heaviness
Joined by The duty, the project manager in natural and wetland environments at the Laval Regional Council for the Environment, Alexandre Choquet, was delighted with this announcement. “It shows Laval’s desire to protect as much of our territory as possible. He specifies, however, that as long as the territories acquired by the City are not registered as protected areas by the Government of Quebec, they are not immune to possible zoning changes that would allow the realization of real estate projects or commercial. “There could be problems in the future. »
However, currently, the “bureaucratic heaviness” accused by the Government of Quebec complicates the task of municipalities wishing to register land in the register of protected areas of the province, notes Marie-Pierre Beauvais, who is responsible for the files of protected areas in southern Quebec within the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
“The message we want to send is that Quebec must support municipal ambition in the protection of the territory,” said Ms.me Beauvais. His organization is responsible for organizing the first edition of the Biodiversity Summit for municipalities, during which elected officials from across Quebec will meet to try to find possible solutions that would facilitate the protection of green spaces. in the province.
The event will also be sold out. More than 270 people registered, mostly elected municipal officials and civil servants.