Old Racecourse | The borough mayor dreams of a tramway

The idea of ​​running a tram on the grounds of the racecourse “dreams” the local mayor, who has just revealed who will build the first real estate project in the future district of 12,500 housing units.

The tramway, “I like that as an idea,” said Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, elected in 2021 as head of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

At the heart of the challenge: the connection of this huge site with the blue line of the metro via the Namur and Savane stations. She is not the only one to have this dream. At the end of April, in Europe, the general manager of Montreal, Serge Lamontagne, said he was “in love with the Viennese tramway”, which inspired him for the development of the hippodrome.

M^me Kasoki Katahwa was speaking in a phone interview with The Press on the occasion of the unveiling of the results of the first call for tenders for land at the racecourse. It is a building project of 200 to 250 housing units proposed by the organization La Traversée which won the process aimed at the community sector. La Traversée explains on its website that it already manages a housing stock of 20 buildings, intended in particular for seniors and vulnerable populations.

Another call for tenders, from the private sector, did not attract any bids, to the “surprise” of the Plante administration. According to information from The Press, the real estate developers had not wanted to formulate a firm proposal without knowing what the neighborhood in which they would fit would look like.

“We are moving fast”

The unveiling of the winning community project marks one of the few public signs of progress in the racetrack file, 14 years after the end of horse racing and 6 years after the land was transferred to the City.

The agreement between the Quebec government and Montreal provided that it could be terminated if the City did not begin to transfer lots six years after its signing in 2017.

However, the Plante administration is not afraid that the Legault government will tear up the agreement and take back the ground.

“Not at all, assured Benoit Dorais, responsible for housing within the Plante administration. We are working together with the Government of Quebec and things are going well. We are not worried at all. We’re here, we’re moving forward, we’re moving fast. »

“Since the start of my mandate, people have not necessarily seen it, but we are actively working,” also assured borough mayor Kasoki Katahwa, who said she insisted on the importance of including collective facilities, such as schools. and sports centers, in the planning. She wants “not just a place where people come to sleep, but a place where people go to work,” she added.

Not “over-perfectionists”

After rejecting the ready-made plan of the Coderre administration because it lacked social housing and after six years preparing its own, is the Plante administration preaching excessive idealism in this matter?

“I don’t think we’re excessive perfectionists. I think we are pragmatic, continued Mr. Dorais. We are in a hurry. It is certain that we are in a hurry. But we have to make sure we have favorable conditions to move forward. »

For the elected official, this pragmatism must also apply to the choice of the mode of transport which will be established in the sector.

“The tram is often a dream, that’s for sure,” he said, much more cautious than his colleague from the borough.

“We really have to do good analyses, to look at the best solutions. I am not dismissing the tram, but I am not making a plea for the tram which would ensure that it is absolutely the route we need for Namur-Hippodrome, did you -he says. I think we need the best solution for the development of a sector. »