Will the iconic windmill along the waterfront in Pointe Claire be renovated and restored?
It’s still an open question, despite decades of talk, negotiation, the city pledging money to help cover the costs and – earlier this year – the announcement by Pointe Claire Mayor Tim Thomas that an agreement to make it happen was struck between the city and the Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal, which owns the historic landmark.
Last week, Pointe Claire council reset the long drawn-out process by approving a notice of motion to create a way for the Archdiocese to apply for funding from the city to restore the crumbling structure. Available funds have been capped at $967,000.
Determining if this is a step forward or a step backward in the process depends on who on Pointe Claire council describes this latest development.
According to Mayor Tim Thomas it’s a major setback that could delay any work getting started to restore the stone windmill by years.
“This process could easily take one or more years, if it happens at all,” said Thomas in an interview. “So we are back to Square One.”
Thomas contends that he and the city’s previous director general stuck a deal with the Archdiocese in September of 2022 that would have allowed work to begin, with the city contributing about $950,000, and the Archdiocese obtaining a matching amount from the province to carry out the needed restoration work that would see the windmill renovated and restored to working condition.
But the majority of councillors who refuse to accept the deal Thomas claims was struck last year and have approved the new framework last week claim the new process is a prudent and necessary step that aims to protect Pointe Claire taxpayers from getting hit with what they predict could be hefty maintenance costs in the future.
“The aim of the committee was especially to protect the taxpayer,” said councillor Claude Cousineau, referring to the group of councillors and city officials who put the latest process in place. It avoids, he said, “a very costly deal if it goes sideways.”
Councillor Paul Bissonnette described the deal Thomas had put together as “far from being complete.”
“There were a lot of things to iron out,” Bissonnette said. “We are not going to be there to maintain the windmill,” he said, after claiming the Archdiocese has failed up until now to maintain the structure or the neighbouring convent.
“We are not the evil bad guys here,” he said during last week’s council meeting. Built in 1710, the windmill is Pointe Claire’s civic symbol, gracing everything from the city’s water tower to its municipal website and banners. It was classified as a heritage site by the provincial government in 1983 and is one of a handful of Quebec windmills built under the French regime that still exist.