The Plante administration announces a first milestone in the future of the old racetrack, in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. A “100%” project devoted to affordable housing will see the light of day on this site, which the City wants to transform into an “eco-district” which will eventually be able to accommodate 6,000 housing units.
Posted at 11:34 a.m.
A call for projects will indeed be launched within a few weeks in order to provide this vast land, located near the Namur metro, with approximately 200 social and affordable housing units by 2025. The City intends to sell a plot of land to a group community in housing. “We are asking all non-profit organizations that are active in housing to prepare their proposal”, explained Monday the vice-president of the executive committee and responsible for housing, Benoit Dorais.
He affirms that the City thus wants to “test new land allocation models”. “The City will be more accessible and agile than ever,” he insisted. The “Namur-Hippodrome” project was initially intended to accommodate more than 8,000 housing units, but this target has since been revised downwards by the City, around 6,000. Mayor Valérie Plante has often described the project as “anti-Royalmount”. .
In a press release, Mr.me Plante said Monday that “the launch of this first call for projects will contribute to the achievement of the ambitious targets that our administration has set to ensure carbon neutrality and affordability in Montreal.
“By dedicating a first lot to a 100% affordable housing offer, we are demonstrating our commitment to ensuring the quality of life of Montrealers and future generations. The mobilization of non-profit organizations is an essential step to meet the needs for social and affordable housing,” she insisted.
Build “again and again”
The future of the site of the old racetrack has been the subject of debate for decades in Montreal. No horse has raced there since 2009. The buildings of the racecourse were demolished in 2018. Over time, three municipal administrations have succeeded one another: from Gérald Tremblay to Valérie Plante via Denis Coderre, none has yet realized projects.
The City of Montreal, to which Quebec finally ceded the land of the former racecourse in 2017, unveiled its vision for the large Namur-Hippodrome sector of 95 hectares in total, in 2019. Valérie Plante and her team dream of making it a carbon-neutral district that would accommodate more than 12,000 housing units, including 6,000 only on the former Blue Bonnets site.
“Today we are living in a defining moment,” said the mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, speaking of “thousands of affordable housing units” that will soon be available for population. “We will not repeat the mistakes of the past,” she assured, guaranteeing the arrival of a “living environment” bringing together parks, schools and community infrastructure.
Mr. Dorais, he says that the City wants to move forward this time for good. “We want to succeed in responding to two crises: the climate crisis and the housing crisis. The sinews of war is certainly to build, build and build more affordable housing, and above all to ensure that this housing remains affordable over time,” he said.
In November 2020, the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) stated in a report that the Plante administration will not succeed in erecting a carbon-neutral neighborhood on the grounds of the former racetrack if it does not better determine the “sources of pollution” which are “omnipresent” there. Greenhouse gases, fine dust, heat islands, noise and vibrations: the pollutants to which the sector is exposed are indeed numerous, and represent a challenge.