“A neighborhood on a human scale does not mean: not doing tricks. That means: do the tricks well,” launched Laurence Vincent at the start of his speech at the strategic forum of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM) on major projects, which was held on Friday morning.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
Mme Vincent chairs the real estate company Prével, responsible for the construction of many housing projects in the central districts of Montreal. She is currently working on building Esplanade Cartier, a subdivision with a potential of 2,000 housing units at the foot of the Jacques-Cartier bridge.
With this reply, she responded to Luc Rabouin, mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal and responsible for economic development on the executive committee, who had preceded her to the podium by extolling the merits of “density on a human scale”.
“My borough has one of the highest densities, and there are no towers,” he answered a question from Michel Leblanc, president and CEO of the CCMM, about the vision de la Ville for the Bridge-Bonaventure sector southwest of downtown.
The City and property developers, including Devimco, are at loggerheads over the future of the sector. The administration of Valérie Plante proposes that 4,000 housing units be built there on an area of 2.3 square kilometers. Promoters see room for three times as much.
In the midst of the housing crisis, the gap between the two visions is attracting attention.
“Constraint Machines”
Mme Vincent was on the Chamber of Commerce podium not to talk about Bridge-Bonaventure, but to explain the difficulties she is encountering with the municipal administration for her Esplanade Cartier project, east of downtown.
“Public authorities have become constraint machines,” she summed up.
For those who don’t know her, Mr.me Vincent is the antithesis of the traditional image of the promoter, alpha male, who “bulldozes” everything in his path to achieve his ends without worrying about the consequences.
“The Esplanade Cartier de Prével project is exemplary”, according to Michel Leblanc: multiple consultations upstream, urban agriculture with market gardens on the roofs, public square, social housing with the Y des femmes de Montréal, preservation of views of the bridge Jacques-Cartier, shared streets promoting active transportation and local businesses to revitalize Sainte-Catherine Street.
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY PRÉVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Illustration of part of the Esplanade Cartier project
Esplanade Cartier replaces, assured Mme Vincent, a vacant lot, a heat island, which disfigured the southeast entrance to the city.
“When I learn about the characteristics of your project and when I hear the City’s discourse on what urban development should be, I tell myself that the City must do everything to promote its realization,” noted Mr. Leblanc. , during the discussion with M.me Vincent who followed his speech.
The truth would be quite different, do we understand the words of Mr.me vincent.
” [Bien] that we have been consulting for nearly three years and that the Public Consultation Office has come out in favor of the heights and the project presented, the special urban planning program adopted by the City does not even go in this direction: we cut the heights, we reduced the floor areas, which we limit to 750 square meters, ”she reminded the audience.
This limitation of floor areas in the Faubourgs sector is a saga in itself, of which The Press has already reported.
The first three phases of Esplanade Cartier were launched while respecting the guidelines of the zoning by-law. The inflation of construction costs is now compromising the profitability of the project, which leads Prével to request exemptions from the zoning for the last three phases.
Tedious process
The situation therefore forces Prével to return to the City to have the zoning exemptions for the last phases of his Esplanade Cartier project approved, a process that could lead to the holding of a referendum at the request of the citizens.
Referendum risk aside, the process of specific projects to build, modify or occupy a building is tedious.
“We are sent to town planning, which sends us to engineering, which sends us back to the water service, which refers us to the fire service, which asks us to validate with the permits, which waits after the go of litigation to… send us back to town planning, to finally… not know who is going to make the decision”, she listed in a tirade that drew applause from the 300 people present.
Laurence Vincent was not content to criticize; she put forward solutions. She suggests that the City appoint a project manager with decision-making power who would have the task of moving the promoter’s project through the municipal apparatus by encouraging departments to process the file diligently and efficiently.
In response to the housing crisis, she suggests that the boroughs adopt annual housing start targets, which would encourage them to be proactive. “Currently, the only actor who has the burden of building new housing is the developer,” she said.