“History is everywhere here,” says the historian Nicolas Hugo Chebin, in front of the Wellington Basin where many ducks are heard near lock no 2. In front of us, a REM train meets another from Amtrak, arriving from New York. Behind it, there is the emblematic Five Roses sign.
“It’s a kind of no man’s land, but it’s an extraordinary place. We are at the heart of the action and history of Montreal. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Nicolas Hugo Chebin is a professor at Cégep Gérald-Godin and a member of the Pointe-Saint-Charles Historical Society. “My hat as a historian is never far from that of a citizen,” he says.
Nicolas Hugo Chebin knows the Bridge-Bonaventure sector like the back of his hand. He increased the number of guided tours as part of public consultations to redevelop it. After submitting 113 briefs, the City of Montreal unveiled a master plan from which a report from the OPCM (Office de consultation publique de Montréal) resulted last November.
Action-Gardien, which brings together 25 community organizations, is impatiently awaiting what comes next. At our request, the Pointe-Saint-Charles Community Development Corporation released its model representing its dream vision of the neighborhood enclosed by railways, the Victoria Bridge and the Bonaventure Expressway where Goose Village once stood 1 and where today we find a Costco.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Margot Silvestro, community organizer at the Pointe-Saint-Charles Community Clinic, and Karine Triollet, coordinator at Action-Gardien
In the Action-Gardien plan, we find a secondary school, 100% affordable and off-market housing on public land. A neighborhood of artisans. The extension of Center Street. An eco-business park. Access to the banks with a footbridge from Marguerite-Bourgeoys Park. Even a reuse of the swing bridge over the Wellington Basin for pedestrians and cyclists.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The Bridge-Bonaventure sector has an area of 2.3 km2, which includes the Cité du Havre and Pointe des Moulins in the Ville-Marie district. Action-Gardien sticks to the territory of the postal code starting with H3K in the South-West district.
It is not a dream “disconnected from reality”, but rather the fruit of several years of consultations, argues Karine Triollet, coordinator at Action-Gardien.
A major Popular Development Operation (OPA) took place over several years with a weekend of citizen proposals, and even door-to-door canvassing which led to a petition supported by 3,000 residents of Pointe-Saint-Charles . The expertise of architect Mark Poddubiuk and urban planner Michel Rochefort was called upon. “It’s citizen mobilization validated by the help of experts,” underlines Margot Silvestro, community organizer at the Pointe-Saint-Charles Community Clinic – the ancestor of the CLSCs.
Result ?
People want neighborhood life, low density, parks, a walkable neighborhood. People are looking from the other side of the canal and they don’t want another Griffintown.
Margot Silvestro, community organizer at the Pointe-Saint-Charles Community Clinic
An opportunity not to be missed
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
During peak hours, there is congestion on Bridge and Mill Streets between the Victoria Bridge and the city centre.
Action-Gardien has been campaigning for a revitalization of the Bridge-Bonaventure sector since 2005. She knows the issue well, having fought against the Loto-Québec casino project with Cirque du Soleil, then against the baseball stadium project. “It’s one of the last corners near the city center where there is wasteland and space,” mentions Margot Silvestro.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Historian Nicolas Hugo Chebin regrets that the P&H Milling silos (which were rented by the SIC) ceased their activities last year.
The Bridge-Bonaventure sector includes many vacant lots. Some belong to the developer Devimco, others to the Canada Lands Company (SIC) and Loto-Québec.
“In a context of housing crisis, we cannot afford for public or parapublic land to be privatized and sold to real estate developers,” argues Karine Triollet. There is truly an opportunity to be seized to meet the needs of the population. »
The housing crisis is an affordable housing crisis.
Karine Triollet, coordinator at Action-Gardien
Action-Gardien proposed in its brief 100% “off-market” affordable housing on public land (whether cooperatives, NPOs or public housing) and 40% on private land. This is more than what is provided for in the Regulation for a mixed metropolis (RMM), commonly known as 20-20-20, for which the City has just announced temporary reductions.
Action-Gardien offers, to remain truly “on a human scale”, some 2,050 housing units with buildings of three to eight floors, and 12 on islands along railway lines. However, you should know that his proposal excludes land in the Ville-Marie district. For its part, the Bridge-Bonaventure Consortium (including Devimco, Broccolini, Groupe Mach, Groupe Petra) wants to build no less than 9,500 housing units and towers of more than 40 floors. As for the City, its master plan calls for 20-story buildings (i.e. 7,600 housing units).
In short, there are significant divergences of points of view. The consortium believes that a high residential density is necessary, which Action-Gardien disputes. “We must preserve neighborhood life on the ground. High density does not promote sociability,” argues Margot Silvestro.
We don’t want to build luxury housing to attract new people. We don’t want a new neighborhood, but a continuation of Pointe-Saint-Charles.
Margot Silvestro, community organizer at the Pointe-Saint-Charles Community Clinic
Read our article “Developers want to build more housing”
For the Bridge-Bonaventure Consortium, there is an urgent need to build. Not at all costs for Action-Gardien. “We have to be flexible, but giving full rights to promoters is dangerous,” says Karine Triollet.
Even if time is running out, work cannot begin anytime soon, points out Margot Silvestro. “We need to decontaminate the land.” This is without counting the redevelopment work on the Bonaventure highway (to make the shore accessible to the population) and the addition of a REM station, as requested by the City.
Action-Gardien welcomes the fact that the OPCM recommended in its report a more precise regulatory framework for the master plan that will be adopted by the City, with the wish to make the privatization of the banks impossible.
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The abandoned building from another era in front of the Costco was that of the Montreal Stockyard, which recalls the presence of numerous slaughterhouses in the former Village-aux-Oies.
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The Forges de Montréal will be at the heart of a future Quartier des artisans.
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
L’Espace Verre is located on rue Mill.
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The Hydro-Québec Viger substation is in the Bridge-Bonaventure sector, as is a Canada Post center and Loto-Québec offices.
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PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Various transport infrastructures surround the sector.
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While waiting to know what final plan will be adopted by the City, Action-Gardien is delighted to see that the Artisans’ Quarter project with arts and crafts schools is coming to fruition. Les Forges de Montréal will become owners of the former Riverside pumping station.
Action-Gardien believes in the residential and industrial cohabitation of Bridge-Bonaventure, and the enhancement of heritage. “Traces of the past give value to the present,” philosopher Nicolas Hugo Chebin.
1. Read our article “What remains of Goose Village?” »