JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report
Despite loud opposition from some residents, St. Lazare council last week moved to municipalize one of its last two remaining private streets, removing the last barrier preventing the building of more residential dwellings along the artery.
With only one dissenting vote, council approved two bylaws affecting the private stretch of Sandmere Street on Aug. 13, including reducing the minimum width of lots permitted from 50 to 37 metres and dropping the minimum front setback from 12 to 10 metres, among other measures.
These changes will allow an estimated 42 to 44 single-family homes to be built on Sandmere in the Saddlebrook area of the town.
The group of 24 property owners along the private artery are breathing a sigh of relief as the change was finally approved, bringing them a significant step closer to selling their lots after years of waiting.
The western portion of Sandmere – one of the last private roads in town – is home to four houses and dozens of lots, which up until now could not be developed.
Owners of the lots have spent years pushing for the municipalization of the street, as its private status has made it impossible to build on their properties and difficult to sell off. These owners have nevertheless been paying taxes on these plots of land.
No more than 20 per cent of the existing trees can be removed if a house is to be built on the lots, however. This limit was imposed, said St. Lazare Mayor Geneviève Lachance,“to reduce the impact of residential development on the forest ecosystem” within the area.
Lachance also pointed out that this number of new houses would be consistent with the current density in the area – 2.7 dwellings per hectare.
She also highlighted the fact that the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) is in the process of drafting its 2025 Plan métropolitain d’aménagement et de développement (PMAD), which will likely call on the municipalities like St. Lazare to densify to around 40 dwellings per hectare.
If the proposed CMM plan is eventually approved before the area along Sandmere St. is developed, the new housing density ratios could see as many as 880 units built instead of a maximum of 44.
“I think it’s clear that all of us don’t want that high density in that sector,” Lachance said. “We would rather be in control of the development now while we can. Allowing these changes would help solidify the low-density aspect of the project before the PMAD is implemented in our bylaws.”
Barbara Dodds, who owns several of the empty lots, is pleased.
“That was very much a relief on my part and everybody else’s too,” Dodds said.
Dodds and her husband had purchased the property when they were in their 20s and were among those who helped build the road that became Sandmere Street.
She recalls when the municipality “arbitrarily” declared that Sandmere would become a private street in the 1980s. “Nobody asked us about that,” she said.
Now almost 80 years old, Dodds explained her frustration over the years in trying to get the street municipalized, coming up short each time.
She noted that she and the other lot owners – many of whom are also seniors – would like to finally get these properties off their hands and use the revenues to help their families.
“I’ve got two daughters and four grandchildren,” said Dodds. “I’d like to leave them some money.”
However, not all St. Lazare residents are pleased. Several residents have repeatedly expressed their opposition to a development project that would see a portion of the surrounding woodland destroyed to make way for housing.
Objectors to the project had turned out en masse to a public consultation meeting July 30. Several expressed their concerns again during question period Aug. 13.
David Hill was the only member on the council to vote against both zoning change which was approved by a majority of council.
In an email to The 1019 Report, Hill explained that he believes his vote was an “accurate reflection” of the will of the constituents in his district.
Though he wrote that agrees with certain articles of the bylaws, including efforts to reduce tree cutting and protect forest cover, he stated that the deforestation of the lots for development, even limited to 20 per cent per lot, would be unwise under the circumstances of climate change.
“At a time when the effects of the climate crisis are being felt so intensely by so many of us, the deforestation of this pristine forested area does not seem prudent,” Hill wrote.
The next step is for town officials to meet with developers to discuss a way forward.
However, according to Alexandra Lemieux, St. Lazare’s director of urbanism services and the environment, no timeline for development has yet been put in place.