The City of La Prairie has just demanded the interruption of the work of transformation of the old local golf course into real estate development, on Friday, after finding that the promoter had cut down too many trees there.
Posted at 5:17 p.m.
The municipality accuses La Prairie sur le Parc inc. of violating the conditions of his municipal permit. She gave him a ticket.
“The City of La Prairie issued a municipal site development authorization certificate last March, in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed in March 2017. This certificate authorizes the leveling and cutting of trees,” said explained La Prairie’s director of communications, Dominique Beaumont, by email. According to her, 6 ponds and 200 trees could be removed.
“Unfortunately, the Urban Planning Department found that the developer did not comply with the provisions of the certificate,” she continued. He cut more trees than he was allowed. »
In a press release, the municipality adds that it has withdrawn its municipal authorization certificate – a type of permit. “In doing so, work is no longer authorized on the site, until the owner submits a new request for a certificate of authorization in good and due form, indicates La Prairie. If the work were to continue illegally, the City will take all necessary measures to ensure compliance with the municipal regulations in force. »
“It had to be done”, says the promoter
Reached by telephone, one of the promoter’s leaders, Serge Gariépy, did not deny La Prairie’s allegations.
“The entrepreneur, he was given an area to do, and obviously he did it. It turned out that there were maybe a few more trees than expected, ”said Mr. Gariépy. He specified that trees had also been cut down to allow the machinery that was to fill in the basins to pass. “It had to be done,” he said. “These are big pieces of equipment. »
“It is not known exactly how many trees the contractor cut,” he added.
This version of the facts is supported by his son, Stéphane Gariépy, also involved in the La Prairie sur le Parc project.
In the opinion of the latter, the construction site can continue despite the interpretation of the situation by the municipality. “We resumed work in accordance with the certificate of authorization issued by the City. The work that is currently being done is not illegal, we respect the authorization certificate,” said Stéphane Gariépy in a telephone interview.
The La Prairie golf course redevelopment project has been the subject of debate for many years in La Prairie. Until this week, the City had authorized the completion of preparatory work on the land, while reserving its final approval for the construction of dwellings.