Proposed high-rise divides council

Pointe-Claire’s city council is divided over a potential new high-rise project.

At the July council meeting, council approved a draft bylaw that would, in effect, allow for the construction of a new high-rise project on Labrosse, in the Hermitage area.

In speaking before the vote, Mayor Thomas opposed the draft bylaw, saying, “I don’t believe we should be taking any more properties out of the RCI until public consultations and the revisions of our urban plan have been completed.”.

Councillor Eric Stork disagreed, saying the mayor’s words “could not be any further from the truth,” but did not elaborate except to say the proposed residences are “not condos.” The project is two 13-storey buildings of affordable rental housing, averaging 15% below market rates, the affordability of which would be guaranteed for 16 years.

Councillor Kelly Thorstad-Cullen also defended the project. She argued there are aspects of the planned development that are already in line with what residents have asked for in the consultation, including public green spaces and ground-floor space for community organizations.

Contracts awarded for two new paths

Two new multiuse paths are coming to Pointe-Claire.

Also at the July regular council meeting, council awarded two new contracts: one for the construction of a new multiuse path, and one for professional services for the construction of a multifunctional pedestrian and cyclist “passerelle” over Highway 40 near Alston, helping users connect with the future REM station. 

The former will be built between Alston and Stillview, and will be a continuation of the path that already exists between Alston and Delmar. Of the nearly 2 million dollar cost, $715,000 will be subsidized by the provincial government.

The Highway 40 overpass contract did not pass council without opposition. Both councillors Brent Cowan and Claude Cousineau voted against the project. Cowan pointed out that the cost of over $2.2 million was just for the plans themselves, and that while there may be federal funding available, it all hinged on the secondary approval of the Quebec government.

“I also think that with an investment of this much money, that some intermediary level between us and the federal government should be involved, i.e. the Agglo, perhaps, or the provincial government.”

“Although I like the idea of overpasses, there’s too many unknowns in this thing,” Cowan said.

Mayor, councillor disagree on purpose of province’s intervention

Pointe-Claire’s mayor says the province didn’t find anything “terribly critical” happening with regard to relationships at City Hall earlier this year, although one councillor says finding fault was never the province’s mission at all.

In April, council voted to ask for help from the Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation in navigating tense relationships at City Hall.

At the July council meeting, a resident asked Mayor Thomas for the results of the intervention.

“I’m not sure what I’m allowed to indulge,” said Thomas.

But he did say elected officials were interviewed both as a council and individually. He also said no report is expected to be published on the situation at City Hall. City Manager Karina Verdon then confirmed no report is forthcoming.

“They did not seem to think that there was anything terribly critical going on in Pointe-Claire, and that’s why there’s no report forthcoming,” said Thomas.

But Councillor Brent Cowan told the Record the purpose of the intervention was never to file a report, only to “understand the sources of friction and to perhaps point out privately some of his observations and offer some advice on how those frictions might be eased.”

A spokesperson for the MAMH confirmed no report was forthcoming, but did not elaborate further on Thomas’s comments.

Synchronization and Bus Priority Measures on Des Sources and Saint-Jean boulevards

The city approved an agreement to be entered into with Société de transport de Montréal regarding bus priority measures and synchronization of traffic lights on Des Sources and Saint-Jean boulevards. The work involves the modification and replacement of certain controllers and cabinets, implementing new programming, detection systems, and bus priority settings.

City to borrow more than $4 million

To pay for several infrastructure projects in the community, the city is looking to borrow just over $4 million from the provincial government.

The adoption of a bylaw to this effect was presented in July and adopted at the August meeting.

This amount will be paid back with a property tax levied on the whole city, “based on the property value of taxable buildings over a 20-year period,” according to Assistant City Clerk Danielle Guiterrez when the notice of motion was initially presented.

Among the projects to be financed with this loan are the repair of the Des Sources pedestrian and vehicle overpasses at Highway 20, professional services for the construction of an independent, multifunctional overpass above Highway 40, and the project-related labour to municipal engineering.