Wetlands | Beauceville blamed for a clear cut

The City of Beauceville razed wetlands without a permit to expand its industrial park and illegally paid more than $2 million to an industrial development organization.

These are the conclusions of an investigation report by the Commission municipale du Québec (CMQ)¹ made public on Monday.

Wishing to expand its industrial park following the 2019 floods²Beauceville circumvented the necessary authorizations and assessments to acquire land in an agricultural zone and clear cut “over several hectares” last spring.

The report also stresses that it is “particularly worrying” not to have seriously assessed the consequences of the destruction of wetlands when these contribute to reducing the risk of flooding.

“Wetlands, the general principle is that we want to keep them, because we have already lost too many of them everywhere” in Quebec, laments biologist Kim Marineau. She points out that even when a permit is issued and funds are provided to compensate for the destruction of wetlands, in practice, the projects do not materialize, as revealed The Press³.

Beauceville exposes itself to legal proceedings as well as administrative and penal sanctions. The fines for violating the Environment Quality Act range from a few thousand to a few million dollars.

Significant expense

The City also proceeded to “a significant expenditure of public funds” for a project which “was far from certain”, we observe.

The City acquired three lots and signed a promise to purchase for a fourth at a total cost of approximately $850,000, “and this, without knowing whether the lots could really be used for industrial purposes”.

The presence of wetlands was known, but “it appears that, to speed up the process, the steps in the progress of the industrial park expansion project have not been respected,” reads the report.

The mayor blamed

The CMQ blames in particular the mayor François Veilleux and the director general Serge Vallée, who have “committed reprehensible acts”. The mayor, absent for health reasons, did not respond to an interview request from The Press. The general manager led The Press to the deputy mayor, Patrick Mathieu, who refused to answer our questions.

“I collaborated in the report, but I did not have all the ins and outs of this report, so I study it, I peel it, I read it,” said Mr. Matthew. “In the very short term, the City will issue comments or make itself available to answer questions in the form of a conference,” he assured.

In addition, the CMQ has learned of the existence of a subsidy program for residential, commercial and industrial construction and renovation that allows owners to obtain a refund of property taxes. Another program provides for the reimbursement to new business tenants of part of the rental costs.

The City has contributed more than $2 million since 2016 under these programs, managed by the Beauceville Industrial Development Corporation (CDIB).

These payments “are illegal”, decides the CMQ, since no legislative provision authorizes them, financial assistance to organizations by cities being strictly regulated.

The municipal council decided to cease “all transfers of funds relating to new agreements” to the CDIB on October 3. But the total amount “could reach $3.7 million in 2026 if the grants were to be awarded for projects in progress” on that date, underlines the report, which recommends ending it immediately.

The CMQ also recommends that Beauceville follow the appropriate steps for its industrial park expansion project and submit the necessary authorization requests.

A “follow-up of the corrective measures put in place” must be done by 1^er May 2023.