The prospect of seeing a new 380-unit housing estate being built at the foot of Mont Saint-Hilaire is causing controversy in the municipality of the same name.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The development of a new district on 29 hectares of land, in zone A-16, at the intersection of Ozias-Leduc and de la Montagne roads, means the disappearance of an orchard and the destruction of a wetland, deplore citizens, who also fear the traffic problems to come.
“It will scrape the landscape”, protests Pierre Nault, president of the Association of citizens of Mont-Saint-Hilaire (ACMSH), which organized rallies, participated in public meetings and circulated petitions to implore the council municipal not to allow residential subdivisions at this location.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The president of the Mont-Saint-Hilaire Citizens’ Association, Pierre Nault
But the municipality had no choice but to authorize the residential subdivision on the land in question, due to two court decisions, explains the mayor, Marc-André Guertin.
“We didn’t accept this lightheartedly, it was a vote of reason,” said Mr. Guertin. We believe that we have done the best job under the conditions offered to us, and we believe that we have completed a chapter that began 30 years ago and is ending after a long labor.
“We don’t live in Mont-Saint-Hilaire to promote development, but because we like the attractions of the area. »
Judgments in favor of owners
The lands in zone A-16 belong to several owners, some of whom intend to sell them to developers who will be able to build residences there. It includes the Sullivan orchard, the Strøm spa, a woodlot, an apple warehouse, a nursery, a few residences and fallow land.
For several years, the municipality prohibited these lands from being developed using various means at its disposal.
But in 2019, a group of owners sued the municipality to demand permission to build houses there. A judgment rendered in 2020, confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2021, agreed with him, pointing out that the municipality had shown bad faith in this case.
The new mayor, elected in the fall of 2021, was therefore taken with this “hot potato”.
As the court gave it until August 2022 to change its bylaws accordingly, the city council needed to act quickly. During the meeting of June 6, the elected officials therefore adopted a special urban plan (PPU) for the sector, which provides for an average density of 15 housing units per hectare.
The tallest buildings will have 3 floors, in some places of the development, and a maximum height of 12 meters.
Two woodlots located in zone A-16 will be protected from any development. The municipality wishes to acquire them to make them accessible to the population, but does not have the necessary funds. She therefore launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $500,000 for this purpose. Since the beginning of the month, just over $5,000 has been raised.
Special status area
But this is not enough for the ACMSH, which would have liked the City to request that the sector be designated as a special status zone, to limit development there.
“We submitted a 60-page document that demonstrates the possibility of making such a request,” said Pierre Nault. The city council says it is green, but it is afraid of the two judgments, and it is afraid of the lawsuits. »
On the City side, it is retorted that such a process would take at least a year, which would exceed the deadline set by the court, and that zone A-16 would not be admissible in any case, since it does not present no particular and exceptional environmental characteristics justifying a particular status.
Comedian Marcel Leboeuf is the only municipal councilor who voted against the PPU and the other by-laws adopted. A follower of urban agriculture, he says he is very disappointed with the turn of events.
He points out that the Sullivan orchard, which is located in zone A-16, is the last that dates from the time of the painter Ozias Leduc.
“It’s very sad to sabotage these lands and want to turn them into condos,” he laments. Such a waste of territory, it comes to me deeply. Yes, it takes houses and condos, but you have to preserve the foothills to protect the mountain. »