Special October 15th Council Meeting

On Oct. 15, a special meeting of the Pointe-Claire City Council was held to discuss a draft resolution written by Mayor Tim Thomas. 

The resolution requested that a public consultation meeting be held to specifically address the future of publicly and privately owned greenspaces such as Fairview Forest (Mu2), and also requested a subsequent meeting to be held on the size and height of the residential buildings to be permitted in the Fairview parking lot (Mu1).

Thomas voiced his concerns about how previous consultations have been conducted, stating that “citizens participating in consultation sessions on more general environmental topics were told by the facilitators that they couldn't discuss Fairview forests and that their input on the topic would not be taken into account. So this is not just a policy issue, but a democratic one as well.”

With councillors feeling blindsided by discovering news of the meeting in The 1510 West newspaper or by receiving an envelope at their door the Thursday evening prior to the Thanksgiving long weekend, emotions ran high throughout the meeting.

Councillors questioned the legality of the resolution, with Councillor Cynthia Homan suggesting that there were "too many statements that are questionable" and "this resolution for me needs to be vetted by our legal department and administration's for its validity before it could possibly move forward,"  and Councillor Tara Stainforth stating the "resolution was clearly not written nor vetted by our administration or legal department. It is a hodgepodge of poorly structured thoughts and catchphrases, and in all honesty, an unnecessary and abusive act of power that has wasted the council and the administration's time, pushing other files back."

Councillor Paul Bissonnette voted against the resolution as well, speaking at length and stating that this should have been discussed in the weekly caucus and that "there’s no urgency" given that both zones Mu1 and Mu2 are under a development freeze.

Councillor Eric Stork's frustration with the situation was palpable, expressing his own angst about this issue. Promising to lay the groundwork at the next council meeting, Stork promised an all-encompassing resolution, one addressing the assessed value of Fairview Forest, information about the possibility of expropriation, a study on habitat, and other factors. 

He then promised to address the "current elephant in the room, which we never touch upon and which our mayor never touches upon, but is a critical element. How much will it cost?" 

Councillor Bruno Tremblay was the only councillor to vote in favour of the draft resolution, still expressing some hesitation in how the process was carried out. "My assumption, which may be naive, is to assume that it's been vetted and gone through a procedure that's acceptable to the administration." 

He addressed his fellow councillors, saying, "What we're resolving on is an argument made, by the mayor in this case, on holding a public consultation process for natural spaces and green spaces, and that's what I focus on and what I look at when I have this document in front of me. Unfortunately, as the mayor knows, I wasn't thrilled to see the other section that was a part of this resolution, which was the height of buildings. But we'll beat up each other later on that one. And so I have to assume that what I'm looking at has been vetted and accepted through the normal channels."

With the vote going 7-2 against the draft resolution, council did proceed to hold a full 90-minute question period, hearing from many citizens, with plans to continue the discussion at the Nov. 5 meeting.