Arrondissements de Montréal

Intervention (textuelle et bilingue) de Peter McQueen, conseiller de ville de NDG, lors du conseil d'arrondissement de CDN-NDG, le 12 avril, 2010

M. le maire,

J’ai des réserves sérieuses sur le dépôt d’un 4e projet dans la zone de redéveloppement Namur-Jean-Talon. Un 4e projet de condo pour le secteur alors rien d’autre n’a été approuvé pour le secteur. Je suis pas contre ce projet en particulier; ni … surtout pas … contre le redéveloppement du site lui-même. Au contraire, j’estime que le projet global a été très bien pensé et dessiné par Daniel Lafond et son équipe.

And I congratulate the city planners for the vision of a brand new green, subway and public-transit oriented neighbourhood in a very neglected area. The problem with what’s happening in the Namur-Jean-Talon area has been well described in the report of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal. That report, while commending the city for its innovation and its overall intentions asks some very pointed questions about several aspects of the project. For one thing, the OCPM report state that residential development of the area is proceeding very rapidly, too rapidly, compared to the other promises made in the project...

Until tonight’s new project for  more units, nearly a third of the the planned housing units for the area had already been approved, and according to the OCPM figures 44% were in the planning stages. Add tonight’s new proposal for _175 units, and I’d say things are moving very fast. That would be fine if all the other aspects of this major redevelopment project were also moving quickly, but according to the OCPM report, they ARE NOT.

1) no public housing has yet been approved for the site, everything that’s been talked about is off the site. Yet there is crying need for social and affordable housing in CDN.

2) no signs of a family housing – three bedroom apartments and more - being a priority, despite the need for housing like that - both affordable and social housing, but also to attract families back to Montreal. The OCPM is calling for a broad collaborative effort between the city and major employers like the borough’s hospitals that would gain from keeping their employees local, not in the suburbs. That has to be done. Pourtant ce type de projet existe ailleurs. J’ai lu dans La Pressde de samedi les details d’un beau projet sur le Platerau Mont-Royal : 50% des unités sont de 3 chambres à coucher. On a rien de ça ici pour Namur-Jean-Talon.

3) There is still no clear plan for preserving and improving the housing on Mountain Sights, and protecting today’s residents from losing their neighbourhood to gentrification.

4) The OCPM says there is still no parking plan, neither for current residents not the new ones that are beginning to move in. These and other serious questions are raised in the OCPM report, mais depuis le depôt du rapport il y a quelques semaines, le projet déposé ce soir est la seule nouveauté : ENCORE UN AUTRE PROJET DE CONDOS.

Mes questions : WHEN will the adminstration answer the OCPM concerns ? WHEN will there be a parking plan, a family housing plan, a social housing plan, and a plan for the Mountain Sights people ? I will vote tonight in favour of this of this motion ONLY to give the administration a chance to get us answers to all these questions before the project returns for approval.

L’arrondissement a des devoirs à faire, et je m’attend à des réponses avant le prochain vote sur ce projet.