Dollard-des-Ormeaux’

DDO urban plan ready for vote after five years of consultations

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

Dollard-des-Ormeaux’s comprehensive urban planning overhaul is reaching its conclusion, following an unprecedented public engagement process that has involved more than 1,300 residents since 2020. The final phase of consultations on the city’s revised Urban Planning Program and Zoning By-law wrapped up February 18.

The extensive consultation process included a landmark meeting at the DDO Civic Centre in 2024 that drew hundreds of concerned citizens, demonstrating the community’s deep investment in the city’s future. This month’s closing round of meetings, which gathered additional written and in-person submissions from over 60 participants, marks the end of a public engagement effort that has far exceeded standard requirements for municipal consultation.

The revised plan, which has evolved through multiple rounds of community feedback, via workshops and online platforms, addresses several key priorities identified by residents. Most significantly, it preserves 95% of the current zoning while establishing new guidelines for controlled development along major boulevards. This approach reflects a deliberate balance between maintaining the city’s character and planning for future needs.

A central element of the plan focuses on the Marché de l’Ouest site, which will maintain its current form under the new regulations. Any future changes to this significant community landmark will require direct resident involvement in the approval process, ensuring community oversight of potential developments.

The plan has seen substantial modifications since its earlier versions, particularly following community input in April 2024. In response to resident concerns, the city has reduced allowable densities and heights for potential development sites. These adjustments promote mixed-use developments that maintain human-scale planning principles while meeting the community’s evolving needs.

The revised regulations pay particular attention to development along main boulevards, establishing clear guidelines for reasonable redevelopment that aligns with community expectations. These modifications reflect extensive feedback gathered through various participatory activities since the revision process began.

“The participation process, which has been ongoing for over five years, demonstrates our commitment to our community,” Mayor Alex Bottausci told The Suburban. “Thanks to the active participation of our residents and their helpful feedback, we have adapted our regulations to meet their expectations. I’m proud of how far we have come to achieve a shared vision for our future.”

The process now moves into its final stages. Following last-minute adjustments to the Urban Planning Program and Zoning By-law, the municipal council will consider the by-laws for definitive adoption at an upcoming council meeting. This step will be followed by conformity reviews from both the Land Use and Development Plan and the Quebec Municipal Commission (CMQ).

Qualified voters in Dollard-des-Ormeaux will receive a public notice during this phase, maintaining transparency through the final steps of the approval process. The regulations will officially come into force once all approval procedures are completed. n

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Teen genius builds rockets in DDO

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

Dollard-des-Ormeaux’s own young “rocket man”, 16-year old Zander Scharf, is a world famous genius in the making. In a Suburban exclusive, Zander and his family revealed how a self-taught and passionately driven young teen can attain goals well beyond the scope of standard expectations.

Building rockets is a hobby for many, but building them well is a challenge, particularly when it comes to landings. On YouTube, hundreds of clips of home-made rockets that fly low and eventually crash and break are fun to watch and fun to create by the channel hosts. For Zander, quality, functionality and landing his rockets are serious business. Presently in third place after Blue Origin’s New Shepard, Zander is aiming for second place with Space X’s Falcon rocket in first for the most landings. In total worldwide, only five model rockets and two space rockets have successfully landed. Specializing in various types of model rockets, Zander created the first model water rocket to ever land itself worldwide.

“It all started with an experiment with baking soda and vinegar when he was 10. The moment he saw the bottle just pop up a little off the ground, that was it for him. It became a passion and he dedicated himself to his rocket projects each day from that point on,” Zander’s mother, Kim Segal, told The Suburban.

At age 15, Zander was invited to join a rocketry team made up of engineering students at Concordia University working on a real space-bound rocket. Each team member was assigned to a group overseeing a portion of the project. As Zander is used to working alone and overseeing all aspects of his projects, he did not stick to a single aspect with one group as he was unable to ignore how it would all come together. Zander participated in each group wowing engineers in training at the university level with his level of knowledge.

Zander also adds an artistic aspect to his online video clips that leave viewers in complete awe. During the solar eclipse on April 8, Zander launched one of his rockets, filming the propelled water release at the eye-level of the sun at the exact calculated moment of the total eclipse which gives viewers the impression of an explosion of water in the sky that gradually reveals the eclipse behind it.

Zander’s siblings Mattix and Aycelee Scharf say they never know exactly what he is really up to working on in his room day after day until the moment he calls them out to view his final results. “Every day is a new project, something bigger, something better. He is always engineering and building something new. The sky is the limit,” Zander’s father, Ian Scharf, said proudly. n

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DDO man who killed neighbour granted parole

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

Michel Langlois, 62, a man serving a life sentence after he brutally stabbed and killed his neighbour in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, was granted day parole. The victim, 27-year old Justyna Kozyra, was stabbed fourteen times near her residence in an apartment complex on Brunswick Boulevard in September, 2011.

A dispute between the janitor of the two-building apartment complex and Kozyra began in 2010 over her failure to pick up her dog’s poop on the property. The dispute continued until her death, in 2011. Langlois was the janitor’s boyfriend at that time and decided to involved himself in the argument with Kozyra, confronting her about the issue on multiple occasions.

The couple made several complaints to the city of Dollard-des-Ormeaux’s public security service. On September 8, 2011, while Langlois was gardening on the grounds of the apartment complex in the company of a public security agent and his boyfriend, Kozyra approached them to confront them about their meeting. Langlois had a knife in his hand when she approached them and he assaulted and repeatedly stabbed the victim in front of witnesses while his boyfriend and the security agent tried to stop him.

Langlois was arrested and the victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition where she was later declared dead. Langlois was convicted of second-degree murder with a minimum of 10 years imprisonment before he could apply for parole.

Following a lengthy psychiatric evaluation and the decision in his favour by the parole board, he will be released to a halfway house in Laval where he will reside for the next six months. n

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