Published November 8, 2023

BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

As of late yesterday afternoon, there was still no official word from Quebec Environment Ministry officials about whether they have received a request to appeal Environment Minister Benoit Charette’s move last month to revoke the permit to backfill part of the wetlands along the waterfront in the Sandy Beach area of Hudson – despite the fact that the deadline had passed.

If no appeal has been received, the minister’s decision marks the end of any chance the proposed 214-unit Sandy Beach housing development for the site moves forward.

In an email to The 1019 Report yesterday, Environment Ministry spokesperson Ghizlane Behdaoui said simply officials were still working on finalizing a response.

Once the ministry confirm this result of this question, the next question to be considered in this

saga is: What happens next?

Hudson Mayor Chloe Hutchison on Monday evening said if no appeal is requested, the town is ready to sit down with the landowners, Nicanco Holdings, to negotiate. What that negotiation will entail, however, is still not clear.

“We’re entering unchartered territory,” Hutchison said in an interview. “We’re willing and open to sitting down with them.”

Among the possibilities, Hutchison said, is Nicanco selling the property or presenting a new scaled-down housing plan. The town is prepared to discuss both options.

If the site goes up for sale, Hutchison said, the town has already investigated obtaining grants from the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal to subsidize the cost. But she cautioned that grants from the CMM’s Trame verte et bleu program will only cover about 65 per cent of the value of the land that would be purchased.

The other possibility is that Nicanco puts forward a new proposal for a housing development. Any such plan, Hutchison said, would be subject to the latest environmental laws and guidelines that have come into force in the last few years. This will dramatically reduce the scale and scope of the plan compared with the 214 units that was put forward in 2020.

Any such proposal would also have to adhere to the town’s new development bylaws, which will be unveiled next month. These new rules, which will allow the current building freeze on all undeveloped areas in the town to be lifted, could further limit where housing along the waterfront will be permitted.

“Will they want to go through that whole song and dance again?” Hutchison asked rhetorically, referring to the approval process for a new development. The answer will only be known as soon as Nicanco weighs its options.

If Nicanco opts to submit a new plan, she said, the focus will be on keeping “development right against the street,” along Royalview Avenue, preserving much of the wooded wetlands.

In that scenario, the town’s priority would be to maintain buffers along the Viviry Creek and the lakefront, and to ensure public access to the beach area.

But all of this could be stalled if it turns out an appeal of Charette’s decision has been requested.

All of this comes in the wake of last month’s dramatic move by Charette, who used new sweeping powers allotted to him in a law that came into force in May 2022 revoking Nicanco’s certificate of authorization to backfill part of the wetlands along the waterfront.

In a four-page letter issued Oct. 4, the minister’s analysis of the saga that traces back to when the permit was first issued in March 2014 was unequivocal, concluding:

“The minister is of the opinion that the residential development project for which the authorization was issued will result in the partial or total destruction of terrestrial environments of ecological interest on the lots targeted by the project and will harm permanently the ecological functions and characteristics of wetlands and terrestrial environments of ecological interest found on adjacent lots.”

The letter continued: “Considering that Nicanco has not started the activities referred to in the authorization within the two years from its issuance, the minister is entitled to revoke the authorization … issued to Nicanco on March 31, 2014, for the partial backfilling of a marsh and swamp as well as the complete filling of two swamps, all with a total area of 1.58 hectares, for the completion of the Sandy Beach residential project in Hudson.”

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