Mackenzie-King Park, in the Côte-des-Neiges district, will undergo a major metamorphosis over the next two years aimed at refreshing its facilities, at a cost of $9 million. But the development of a synthetic sports field, likely to create a heat island, is not unanimous in the neighborhood.
The project will make it possible to renovate the chalet – work has already started -, to revegetate its surroundings, to improve the relaxation areas and to protect the Dora-Wasserman woodland, which borders the north-west part of the park, through the development better designated paths to prevent walkers from trampling on the undergrowth. A stormwater management plan has also been developed and provides for a dry river, according to the sponge park concept.
The development plan also aims to replace, in 2025, the sports field covered in grass with a synthetic surface which will occupy 13% of the surface area of Mackenzie-King Park. The Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district is also preparing to launch a call for tenders for the development of this land.
“It’s a very tense issue”
The mayor of the district, Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, is aware of the controversy this project arouses. “Ideally, it is clear that we would not have opted for a synthetic pitch. But why, when we are in a sector where there are several vulnerabilities in the population, where there has been no investment in sports infrastructure in recent years and where there are several private schools with quality infrastructure, would we deprive young girls and boys of benefiting from infrastructure like that? » she explains in an interview. “It’s a very tense issue. »
Synthetic surfaces make it possible to increase the usage time of a sports field, but they are also known to create heat islands. Studies have shown that the temperature on this type of terrain can be 10 to 16 degrees higher than that measured on natural grass. In 2014, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) expressed its concerns regarding the growing use of synthetic surfaces in Montreal parks. “In a context of climate change, where average temperatures continue to increase and the intensity and duration of heat waves increase, these few additional degrees present a significant risk for the health of the urban population,” wrote the INSPQ in a letter addressed to the City of Montreal.
And on several occasions in the past, elected officials from Projet Montréal have opposed such projects, notably in Rutherford Park, on the side of Mount Royal, in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and in the Sud-Ouest borough.
Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, elected representative of Projet Montréal, points out that the synthetic field project was the subject of a long reflection and numerous analyses. Currently, the borough has three synthetic fields, including only one in the Côte-des-Neiges sector.
The borough also relied on an opinion published earlier this year by the Montreal Regional Public Health Department which, while favoring natural surfaces, recommended taking into account a set of factors, including the effects on physical and mental health, environmental consequences and the vulnerability of surrounding populations, in decision-making.
To reduce the impact of the heat island, trees will be planted all around the field and the stands will be made of wood. While waiting for the trees to mature, the borough plans to install structures creating shaded areas on the land. “It’s going to be one of the most beautiful parks and one of the best designed in the borough,” says M.me Katahwa.
Despite reforestation and demineralization efforts, the share of vegetated surface area of the park will only increase from 75% to 78%, a small increase essentially slowed down by the addition of synthetic terrain.
Opposition
The choice of a synthetic surface continues to make waves. “It’s one of the few parks that are still natural in Côte-des-Neiges, in a densely populated neighborhood where there are people who live in buildings built in the 1940s and 1950s. This is a more fragile population to heat stroke,” underlines Line Bonneau, a resident of the neighborhood. She criticizes the district for using double standards by saying it wants to protect a wooded area while favoring an artificial surface. And this land will be reserved for a single category of uses, she deplores. “It’s a disguised privatization of a park. »
According to her, this choice is even less judicious in light of the conclusions of a group of experts in adaptation to climate change which, on Tuesday, revealed that in the absence of vigorous action on the part of governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions greenhouse, temperatures could rise by 4.3°C in Montreal by the end of the century.