Pointe-Claire puts brakes on development with temporary freeze

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Pointe-Claire council voted Tuesday to put a temporary development freeze on several key areas in the city while it overhauls its urban planning program.

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The sweeping measure placed a freeze on Pointe-Claire’s city center sector (which includes the Fairview Forest), Pointe-Claire Village and Pointe area, the Valois Village, as well as the Pointe-Claire Plaza at St. Jean Blvd. and Highway 20 The freeze would apply to a couple of other stretches along Lakeshore Rd. and Hymus Blvd.

Mayor Tim Thomas said the temporary control measure will “put an immediate freeze on the development of strategic sectors in our city for the duration of the (urban planning) review process.

“For the duration of the freeze, no permits can be issued for the construction or conversion of a multi-residential building in the city center sector,” he said. “Moreover, no permits can be issued for the construction of a new main building on the site of identified shopping centres. This is an important stage that will allow us to continue to engage in discussion and define a development vision that takes into account both the community’s interests as well as Pointe-Claire’s development obligations under the Montreal urban agglomeration land-use plan.”

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While the freeze effectively brings development to a halt, Thomas said the city plans to hold public consultations before revising its urban plan. Council adopted a first draft of the new planning program Tuesday.

“This is not a final document, far from it,” the mayor said. “The proposed bylaw is simply a starting point for our bylaw review process. Legally, we need to have a starting point. But it is the entire consultation and review process in the next two years that will make it possible to draft the new bylaws in their final form (by 2024).”

Thomas told the Montreal Gazette he wants more citizen input into the decision-making process at city hall.

“Putting a freeze on everything is big, but where we go from here is huge,” he said. “We’re going to re-write the urban plan and people will have to get involved if they care. It will be the public that you decide at the end.”

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Council unanimously approved the freeze, except for councillor Paul Bissonnette who recused himself from voting because he owns property on Lakeshore Rd. in an area placed under the freeze.

“This is a council victory,” said Thomas, who also praised city general manager Robert Weemaes for overseeing the administrative implementation of the freeze.

Geneviève Lussier, spokesperson for Save the Fairview Forest group, said she is hopeful the Interim Control Resolution (or RCI) adopted by the city is a step toward the protection of the forest. But she’ll be seeking more information about the legal weight the freeze carries before getting her hopes up.

“The city said they’re working on trying to save it and I’d like to take them on their word,” Lussier said. “And Tim Thomas is committed to saving the forest and a few other councilors are keen as well. So that makes me hopeful.”

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Lussier said she is looking forward to public consultations, especially those concerning green spaces such as the Fairview Forest.

“It’s going to give residents an opportunity to speak up and explain what their concerns are, what their hopes are.”

The forest property, located next to a future REM station, belongs to Cadillac Fairview, which has plans for a massive mixed-use development.

Lussier and other members of the Save the Fairview Forest group have been staging weekly protests around the forest edge for the past 63 weeks.

The group has also collected more than 26,000 names on an online petition and another 2,100 names on a paper petition.

Although the implementation of a freeze means the forest has been granted a temporary reprieve, Lussier still hopes for a permanent solution.

“For a long time, our group has talked to all levels of government to get the funding to be able to purchase the land from Cadillac Fairview.”

The preservation of the Fairview Forest was a key plank in the election platform of Thomas, who used John Belvedere in last November’s municipal election.

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