BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West

The threat of paving what some describe as a little piece of paradise to put up a REM parking lot is looming large in Pointe Claire.

As the clock ticks down to the opening of the light rail station by the Fairview Pointe Claire shopping centre and no plan yet in place for West Island commuters to leave their vehicles, concern is growing about where CDPQ-Infra, the contractor behind the rail project, will put a lot.

For Geneviève Lussier, a spokesperson for the grassroots group Save Fairview Forest, the concern is that the parking lot will be located in what is now a wooded area west of the mall, just north of the rail line.

“Can we say we don’t think the parking lot should go there?” Lussier asked the members of Pointe Claire council earlier this month, referring to the forested land.

Going one step further, the greenspace activist whose group recently held its 150th weekly demonstration at the wooded area in an effort to save it from development, encouraged Pointe Claire administrators and elected officials to get involved in the decisions of the parking plan before a solution is announced and imposed.

“If there are discussions going on right now, maybe we should be part of those discussions,” Lussier said, urging the city to inquire where the talks on the parking situation are at.

Previously, CDPQ-Infra has said discussions to come up with a solution to the parking needs for the train station were ongoing with Cadillac Fairview, the owner of the shopping centre. Rather than build a new parking lot, the contractor’s goal had been to use some of the existing spots within the centre’s parking lot for the REM.

But Cadillac Fairview has made it clear the shopping centre’s parking spots are off-limits, and that CDPQ-Infra will need to find another place for commuters to leave their cars before boarding the electric train.

Officials with Cadillac Fairview could not be reached for comment.

“Would it be possible for the citizens and the city to work together and speak to the CPDQ and have a united voice about making sure we don’t pave one of the last green spaces in that area – actually, the only last green space in that area – and keep the parking lot on something that is already paved?” Lussier asked council.

“If there is a way to unite our voices on that, that would be amazing,” she added.

In response, Pointe Claire Mayor Tim Thomas said: “There wouldn’t be any harm in renewing discussion with the CPDQ.”

Thomas admitted, however, that the consortium building the rail line holds authority over the project, including where parking will be located.

“There are a lot of residents who would help you have that greater voice if you wanted it,” Lussier said, explaining how residents in the east end of Montreal had effectively lobbied the rail project managers to take local concerns into consideration when planning facets of the project in that part of the island.

The forest is currently subject to two separate development freezes – one imposed by the city of Pointe Claire and another by the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal. The moratoriums prevent any plan to build on the land to move forward. Shortly after the city imposed its freeze in early 2022, Cadillac Fairview filed a lawsuit against the city. The company is seeking to maintain its right to develop the land.

In 2016, when the REM project was first unveiled, CDPQ-Infra had promised there would be 4,500 parking spots spread across the four stations that make up the 14-kilometre stretch of the West Island line.

That number has since been cut to 900, with 500 spots at the Des Sources station; 200 at the Anse à l’Orme station in Ste. Anne de Bellevue; and 200 at the Kirkland station reserved only for Kirkland residents. A parking plan for the station next to Fairview has not been announced.

Officials at CDPQ-Infra were unavailable to comment.