By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative
After close to four years of planning and negotiating, Chelsea and La Pêche residents will have a new option to get around the Hills.
And they won’t even have to pay for gas.
The Outaouais’ regional counsel on the environment and sustainable development, CREDDO, has partnered with both municipalities to bring a fleet of 16 Communauto hybrid cars to the region. Twelve of them will be stationed in Chelsea, with the remaining four spread out throughout La Pêche.
It’s an initiative that CREDDO president Benoit Delage said he hopes will change residents’ car-centric habits.
“If we want to build a centre village, we can’t have a sea of parking,” said Delage, referring to Chelsea.
He explained that the project is in collaboration with four Chelsea developers: Cargo, Multivesco, DACM Investments Inc. and In Harmony Developments, which will host the cars in their parking lots for the public to use.
With the developers on board, Chelsea changed its urban planning bylaw to bring the minimum number of parking spots per unit for new developments from two, to just one. In the process, it has eliminated several “heat islands” that would have been spread out over Chelsea’s centre village, explained Delage. A heat island is an urban area that experiences hotter than average temperatures than outlying areas due to infrastructure.
Benoit said that the municipality will have 150 fewer parking spots in the village because of the project.
“Can you imagine what the difference will be for what will be our centre village without that parking?” asked Delage. “It’s more trees, it’s more space for people.”
According to CREDDO, 79 per cent of greenhouse gasses in places like Chelsea and La Pêche come from transportation, and the organization said it is confident the addition of 16 community hybrid cars will bring that number down. The organization said it also hopes that the car-sharing initiative will entice residents to ditch their second family car, which will create less impact on the environment and help residents save money.
“It costs residents $12,000 per year to own a car,” said Delage, referring to maintenance costs, insurance, gas and other repairs. With Communauto, residents can sign up for a number of various membership packages from as low $0 per month and $12.75 per hour, or up to $30 per month, which will allow residents to use the cars for just $2.75 per hour. And users won’t have to pay for gas. The packages are built to cover the cost of gas through membership fees. Each car will have a Communauto credit card for users to fill up when they need to. But all the cars are hybrid – 12 Prius’ and two RAV4 SUVs.
Chelsea Mayor Pierre Guénard said the project presents a “decisive turning point for our municipality.”
“This project is perfectly in line with our environmental values, offering Chelsea residents a transportation solution that complements active mobility and Transcollines services,” said Guénard. “Through this initiative, we are creating a more integrated transportation network, helping to reduce our carbon footprint.”
The project relied on $500,000 worth of funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ green fund, with Chelsea chipping in $75,000 and La Pêche contributing another $25,000. The four developers also chipped in a total of $300,000, according to CREDDO.
The vehicles will be available in November and will be parked at the four developments above, as well as at town hall in Chelsea. Two cars will be located somewhere in Masham, and CREDDO said it hopes to station two more in Wakefield.
Residents can take advantage of $45 off of certain membership packages using the promo code: HORIZONS online at: www.communauto.com