The Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM) will restrict real estate development on nearly 12,400 additional hectares of natural environments, including six golf courses “requiring priority attention”, under its interim control by-law officially entered into force on Thursday.
Posted at 12:50 p.m.
“We must accelerate the ecological transition. We have no more time to waste. We know it, the population tells us: it’s now or never. We have our work cut out for us,” said the mayor of Montreal and president of the CMM, Valérie Plante, on Thursday during a speech to several elected officials from Greater Montreal.
This announcement comes as the redevelopment of golf courses has been debated for several months in the municipal world. Thus, the golf clubs of Beloeil, Candiac, Chambly, Mascouche, Rosemère and Terrebonne will be protected under the control regulation. A zoning change will therefore be prohibited on these lands until at least 2023, the date on which the Greater Montreal Metropolitan Land Use and Development Plan will expire.
On the island of Montreal, the Anjou golf course does not appear in this regulation, which has obtained the approval of the Legault government. Together, these six golf courses nevertheless total nearly 284 hectares. The CMM also notes that these lands “are all located in the urban perimeter, where the available space is sufficient to accommodate population growth by 2041”.
In a possible second phase, other golf courses could however be added to this interim control regulation, indicated the general manager of the CMM, Massimo Iezzoni. Studies will be carried out to this effect in the coming months. The CMM is also calling for additional assistance of $100 million from the provincial government to stimulate sustainable development in Greater Montreal, via the Green and Blue Trame program. In public transit, “other avenues should also be considered to ensure fair funding for municipalities,” said Ms.me Plant.
The island equivalent
Ultimately, the control by-law will protect 12,367 hectares of additional natural environments, bringing the total to 53,435 hectares now subject to conservation measures. “It’s roughly equivalent to the entire island of Montreal,” said Ms.me Plant about it.
“Each protected hectare on Quebec territory makes a difference in ensuring the conservation of our natural environments of interest, particularly wetlands, which provide us with important ecological services. […] All of Quebec will benefit, ”reacted Environment Minister Benoit Charette in a statement on Thursday.
In March, some 50 citizens’ groups across the province called on the Legault government to halt the transformation of former golf courses into residential neighborhoods, their conservation being “an opportunity not to be missed” to fight against the climate crisis and the decline of biodiversity, they pleaded.
Voices had also been raised in recent months calling for a reform of the Expropriation Act, whose fiscal composition hinders too many municipalities in the acquisition of land. In May, Prime Minister François Legault pledged to begin this reform, thereby giving municipalities the right of first refusal. Quebec, however, clearly refuses to review the taxation of cities, which want to get out of the shackles of property tax.
“You know it: we have the objective of protecting 17% of the area of protected natural environments in Greater Montreal. 17% is good, but honestly, we have to go further,” concluded Mr.me Plant.