OK. I attended the meeting presenting the planned project for the of the eight storey condo's. I had a vested interest since rumours was that the arena (Patinoire Deux-Montagnes) would be demolished to make way for this project. Well the arena is safe although it is still for sale for around 1.5M$. The meeting was still going but I left at 9:20 (started at 7:00) because I hadn't eaten supper but here are my observations.

 

It's a simple request for rezoning. The land has been owned by Sobey's since 1998. It represents about 300,000 square feet from Boulevard des Promenades to within 100 feet of the bike path. Sobey's had every intention of levelling this whole land for a large grocery store and parking lot. When Sobey's bought IGA also in 1998, they changed their minds on developing the site. Now Gestion Benoit Dumoulin wants to buy this land on the condition that they can develop it as a residential and maybe commercial development.

 

So they are proposing a split rezoning of commercial-residential* and residential. I will explain the * later. The back 200,000 ft would be for 5 eight story buildings of 32 condo units each (4 per floor). This means 160 units with 90 indoor parking spaces and 150? outdoor spaces. For the builder, there is no question of developing this project without at least 150 units as it wouldn't be viable. The land will cost the buyer at least $2M (maybe more) so that why they need that many units. There is also a municipal or provincial urban development initiative that promotes high density developments around established mass transit infrastructures such as train, Metro and bus stations.

 

The remaining front 100,000 square feet would be rezoned commercial-residential. This is where there is a little out for the developer. If there are no takers for the commercial lot or that the sale of the condos go well, this front lot could be developed into more 'housing' units with a maximum of 6 stories. This could mean another 60 or so units.

At the meeting, the project was presented in both French and English. During the question period, there was almost only opposition to the project and to the mayor. First and most prominent were the tree huggers. Then it was the people who thought that the air quality would suffer because of more cars. Some people complained that the mayor is not saving the trees from promises he made 15 years ago. Everyone is a little leery about the 80 foot buildings. Even the mayor is wondering if this would be too high. The reason they are high is to preserve as much 'green' land around them as possible. A smaller footprint they call it, leaving 46% green space which everyone was sceptical about. Some teachers are worried about overloading classes even more than they are now. Others talked about overloading the train. Frankly, it isn't 160 units that will make the difference. The train is over-crowded now and I know that only 25% of people getting on at 2 Mountains station are from 2 mo. The rest are from everywhere else. I know people that come from St. Augustin and St. Sauveur to take the train every day.

Really the bottom line is that there are three options:

1. Leave the land zoned as is (fully commercial). This means at any moment any commercial entrepreneur could level the land to within 100 feet of the bike path and pave it. For 7 years now, we have been 'lucky' that nothing is built, let's cross our fingers for another 7.
2. Rezone the land to the above diagram and allow GBD to buy and start their proposed project
3. Have the city buy it back from Sobey's and make a park to preserve the green space (although 1/3 of it now is not green space and is merely a paradise for construction advertising.) See picture below.

Option 3 is not an option at all. The city cannot afford to buy it at to conserve green space and taxpayers do not want to fund this.

Option 1 leaves the land at risk of being developed into a huge parking lot for a large commercial establishment.

Option 2 is really the only way to go except that I have my reservations.
The height doesn't really bother me because they will not be higher than the 3 storey condo's on the top of the hill. I will confirm that this weekend with my GPS.

My biggest reservation is the fact that I think they would have a hard time filling 160 units, so the project could drag on for years. Nobody even questioned this at the meeting. One of the reasons they might not sell very well is that there are only 90 indoor parking spaces for 160 units. In Nun's island, they have at least one and sometimes two per unit. That make a big difference in the look and the green space around the building. With this plan, there will be over 150 outside spots. My suggestion was to at least double the indoor parking to allow more green space on top because I know I couldn't move in there without an indoor and Myrna would want one too. There would be lots of fighting if we only had one.

This is part of the lot in question. Many of those trees would be gone except for a little over 200 feet at the bike path. The top of the Olympia is around 50 feet high, so these building would be 30 feet higher. Again, that is supposed to be no higher then the buildings at the top of the hill. They are also planning to keep trees around the perimeter. The only entrance to the residential part would be at the existing light.

Obviously there is someone that is going to make money on this if it works. Many think that there something in it for Benoit himself. Maybe more customers at BabyBoomers. Someone could lose a lot of money too if this project is not done well and attract an upper end clientele. I personally would not want to live on the eighth floor looking down at two arenas, a municipal garage, a busy intersection, a lot of so-so apartment buildings that are getting on in age and be take close to the whining tires on the 640 overpass. I don't know the price per unit target but someone casually mention $200k. Add to that one indoor parking spot and condo fees and you are not talking welfare. I certainly would invest my money in this plan. but if someone is willing to do it...

Right now, we are living in the hope that this land stays undeveloped and that a few trees are saved because of it. Maybe there will be enough billboards there to hide all the trees.

The last thing I want to see is a referendum that will cost us all a lot of money in the end. I'm not always on Benoit's side, but I think this one is a no-brainer considering the alternatives.