Allumettières and Front

Advisory planning committee rejects zoning proposal

The advisory planning committee (CCU) rejected a re-zoning proposal on the north-west corner of Allumettières Boulevard and Front Street this past summer to the satisfaction of the Vieux-Moulin Residents' Association (VMRA).

“The developer’s idea was to expand their commercial project, but they have not yet completed the first phase. We were also sensitive to the residents’ concerns regarding security. There were also questions regarding the entrances and, subsequently, the project as initially proposed was not recommended. However, the developer was asked to find solutions to the issues raised. Now the ball is in the court of the developer,” said Richard Bégin, Chair of the CCU and Deschênes councillor. Sandra Lemaire, VMRA president, wanted to point out that they are not taking a position against or for the expansion.

“When we created the association back in March, the biggest concern in our area was safety. From the beginning, we wanted to hire MOBI-O to conduct a traffic study and when we heard about the zoning change, it all tied into what we were looking to do,” said Lemaire. MOBI-O is a non-profit group fostering transport solutions.

The applicant, Les Immeubles Alre, wants to extend the commercial zoning into a residential zone to permit the completion of the second phase of a commercial project close to de la Fabrique Street. The developer is looking to add two commercial buildings and a pharmacy. The municipality indicated that his proposal is in line with the city’s orientation for local commercial hubs.

However, the Vieux-Moulin Residents' Association, l’École des Tournesols and the councillor for the area, Mike Duggan, expressed their concerns about this development to the city and the CCU.

“The commercial buildings proposed involved a large parking and road access, but we refuse to accept more commercial traffic in front of the elementary school (des Tournesols) which is already dealing with traffic issues,” noted Mr Duggan.

“We have concerns and we told the city that these need to be looked at before going ahead with a new development. We told the city that we want them to be proactive and not reactive. We have a chance at the moment to complete our study and review the issues and recommendations and determine how long it will take to put in place those measures before we can review that project,” said Lemaire. “Our main concern is the safety of children walking to school. There’s excessive speeding on streets near the school. Some of the infrastructure is missing and we want the city to focus on that.”

Duggan said that the developer has been asked to design access from another point of entry, such as from Front Street or des Allumettières Boulevard.

“If the developer and vendor are convinced that the commercial expansion is a good and profitable idea, they should work on convincing the city or the MTQ to cooperate, and not try to push the locals into accepting something that clearly goes against the interests of road safety in front of a school,” said Duggan.

The traffic study should be completed by the end of April. VMRA signed with MOBI-O in late September and the first exploratory walk is scheduled for October 23.

The CCU ultimately rejected the proposal, seeing as there were concerns regarding traffic and pedestrian safety. The committee indicated that the city should wait for the traffic study before analysing the zoning change. A traffic study will also be carried out by a road traffic consultant to assess the impact of the project mandated by the applicant.

A working group has been created with the school, the developer, the city and the residents association all at one table to find solutions indicated Lemaire.

The Bulletin was unable to reach Les Immeubles Arle for comment.