A handful of promoters have acquired dozens of hectares of natural wooded areas in Sorel-Tracy to build homes there, noted The duty. And if the latter claim to respect the rules in place, this real estate development raises fears of the loss of green spaces.
A frenzy that Maxime Dumontier deplores. This citizen member of the organization Coalition eau-nature-air pur (CENAP) campaigns for the protection of the natural environments of the municipality of 35,000 inhabitants. “Sorel-Tracy is becoming the third crown of Montreal, and what is sad is that it is done on the back of green spaces,” he denounces.
The duty was particularly interested in a large wooded area where the MRC de Pierre-De Saurel mapped many natural environments — swamps, wet plains and a stream, among others. This territory of approximately 140 hectares is located between Highway 13 and the Richelieu River and surrounds the municipal golf club of Sorel-Tracy, Les Dunes.
Observation: in five years, almost all of this green space has passed into the hands of real estate companies, such as Gestion Alain Bourgeois, Renaud Développement, Développement urbain, Groupe Lussier, Habitations Richard Hébert or Poirier Construction. The remaining plots have, for the most part, been purchased for investment purposes by firms from the world of finance.
Real estate and wetlands
Jean Cournoyer is one of the promoters who acquired these lands. Well known in Sorel-Tracy, the businessman owns the Continental golf club and Kiroule, a vehicle and helicopter rental company. With a partner, Habitations Raymond Guay, he bought about 30 hectares of land last summer to build up to 800 homes next year — single-family and semi-detached houses, but also condominiums and apartment buildings. .
In interview at To have to, it ensures that the wetlands present on the territory will not be backfilled. “Sometimes, we will take a little bit, but we compensate. What we are going to remove is brushwood, there is nothing good in that, ”he assures. The stream should for its part be enhanced with the development of a cycle and pedestrian path, he explains. “Finally on [30 hectares]I keep [10] green”, says the real estate developer, who claims to want to “do a great project” which will become the “green lung” of Sorel-Tracy.
Asked about the steps he has taken with the municipality to obtain a tree felling permit, the promoter puts the importance into perspective: “It depends on what we mean by tree felling. There may be a couple of trees that are going to be felled on a piece of land, but it’s not a forest. It’s going to be minimal, and we’re going to plant 2,000 trees. »
The City of Sorel-Tracy refused to comment on the file, indicating by email that the project “must be analyzed by our services” of urban planning. “For its part, the municipal council will be called upon to discuss and decide on it,” we note.
Another real estate firm, Poirier Construction, will start work on a new neighborhood in the next few weeks on a site adjacent to Mr. Cournoyer’s, the second phase of the Évo Quartier Urbain project. Nearly 30% of the site is occupied by a marsh and a swamp, according to the map of natural environments drawn up by the MRC of Pierre-De Saurel. But promoter Luc Poirier assures that he will not touch these environments, even if they are glued to phase 1: “We do not need to ask anything from the Ministry of the Environment because wetlands will not be touched. We’re going to build around it, where it’s allowed. »
Sorel is one case among many others [d’étalement urbain]because I can cite a lot of municipalities where it continues to develop in the same way as in 1972
“At this rate, Sorel will end up being transformed into a new Varennes or a new Sainte-Julie, except that instead of building on agricultural land, we will do it by taking overgrown land or by razing the forest”, regrets Maxime Dumontier, of the CENAP. “It’s all the sadder since it’s part of an ecological corridor that connects the Sorel islands and the rest of the region. And they are destroying it. »
Biodiversity and water stress
“Sorel is one case among many others [d’étalement urbain]because I can cite a lot of municipalities where things continue to develop in the same way as in 1972,” notes Kim Marineau, president of Biodiversité conseil, a firm of scientific consultants in biology, ecology and habitat conservation.
Without blaming promoters, she maintains that Quebec’s regulatory framework has little bite. The biologist also notes two major problems related to urban sprawl as it has been practiced here for decades.
First of all, there is the impact on biodiversity. Even if real estate projects comply with the regulations, the construction of neighborhoods around natural environments has the effect of enclosing them and reducing “ecological connectivity”, she recalls. “When there are no more possibilities for an individual – a fox, muskrats, weasels, martens – to join its companions in a natural environment that is five kilometers away, one can imagine that it becomes more difficult for the rest of the world. »
Added to this is the issue of the preservation of groundwater, a major issue that directly affects municipalities and their citizens. “When we make environments disappear [pour construire des rues et des maisons], surface water no longer recharges groundwater. Rather, they are directed to the sewers to be sent into the waterways and they also end up contaminating them. »
Water stress is also a problem that will intensify in the coming years, underlines Mme Marineau. She cites the recent — and very concrete — example of Saint-Lin–Laurentides, in Lanaudière, which must now limit residential construction on its territory due to a lack of drinking water. “We must understand that ecosystems provide us with services. And when we lose more than 60% or 70% of a territory, it is the services provided by the ecosystems that we lose. It creates a cascade of repercussions, of which the loss of biodiversity and the issues related to water are examples, ”she summarizes.