JOHN JANTAK

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

Vaudreuil-Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon and representatives of the grassroots environmental group Mères au Front were at the National Assembly in Quebec City yesterday to formally submit a petition calling on the provincial government to abandon its plan to build a 14-acre parking lot at the new Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital.

The petition, signed by 2,362 residents of the region, was initiated by Vaudreuil MNA Marie-Claude Nichols after provincial health officials announced it was shelving the initial plan to build an underground lot or a multi-level structure at the new hospital. The change, which would see a surface parking lot stretch over 14 acres, was announced earlier this year by Health Minister Christian Dubé in order to save $50 million on the $2.6-billion hospital project.

“This about-face is incomprehensible and unacceptable,” Pilon said in June when Quebec Health officials announced the change in plans. “The Quebec government’s decision to build a surface parking lot runs counter to municipal, regional and provincial environmental policies and objectives.”

In an open letter published in The 1019 Report earlier this month, Mères au Front said: “We demand that the ministry of health and Social Services plan the construction of the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital in accordance to sustainable development principles.”

Several municipalities in the region along with the MRC of Vaudreuil-Soulanges have condemned the new parking lot plan.

Despite widespread local opposition, Soulanges MNA Marilyne Picard, a member of the CAQ government, supports the surface parking lot plan.

The hospital, currently under construction, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

After 20 years, several attempts and a few lawsuits, the four municipalities on Île Perrot are joining forces to once again attempt to complete the abandoned arena project that sits as an eyesore on 5^th Avenue in Pincourt.

Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot Mayor Danie Deschênes said her town along with Île Perrot, Pincourt and Terrasse-Vaudreuil are all on board and ready to move forward with the project. To that end, they have applied for a provincial government grant to help fund the initiative.

“We never disagreed on the fact we need an arena on Île Perrot,” Deschênes said in an interview. “We’re just following through on previous discussions we’ve had over the past eight years.”

The grant application will be submitted to the provincial financial assistance program for recreational, sports and outdoor infrastructures.

“We have until Dec. 15 to submit the grant request,” Deschênes said. “We will be ready by then.”

Neither Deschênes nor Pincourt Mayor Claude Comeau were able to provide a dollar figure on how much money the four municipalities would request, but the amount will be determined by the time the grant application is submitted.

“We should have an amount ready by the time we submit the grant application,” Comeau said, adding the subsidy would cover two-thirds of the cost of the project.

“The first step right now is to see if we’re eligible for the subsidies,” Comeau said.

A decision on whether the government will accept the grant application will be made by next spring.

“We need a facility on the island,” Comeau said.

Last month, three of the four towns on the island entered into a three- to five-year agreement to manage an arena in neighbouring Vaudreuil-Dorion in order to provide ice time for youth who live on Île Perrot. It is viewed as a temporary solution to the growing demand for ice time by youth leagues on the island.

“We’re moving forward and, hopefully, if the government supports us, we’ll have a facility for the kids to skate on the island,” Comeau said. “That’s our goal. It’s a win-win situation.”

If the municipalities receive a grant next year to complete the indoor arena complex, it could be ready by 2025. The four participating municipalities will also create a new board to take charge of the project. 

Construction of the now abandoned arena complex began in 2003, which marked the start of a saga that has lasted two decades.

In 2004, with costs rising and a dispute erupting with the contractor, the agency created to oversee the arena declared bankruptcy. The contractor sued the town of Pincourt and the agency. The case lingered in court for about seven years before the town of Pincourt purchased the property in 2012.

A plan put forward by a private company owned by ex-Vancouver Canuck winger Alexandre Burrows at that time aimed to see the arena completed, but quickly fell apart. In 2014, Pincourt sold the property to another private firm, but legal disputes entangled the project.

The town bought the property again in 2018, announcing plans to complete the arena. But those plans fell apart, too.

In 2019, the town announced it would demolish the unfinished building. But that plan was delayed. In 2021, the town announced it would sell the property again. No buyer, however, was found.

A study conducted shortly after Comeau was elected mayor in 2021 concluded that completing the arena was a viable option. “This is why we decided to move forward with the project,” he said.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

Residents opposed to the MRC’s choice of location for a $20-million open-air compost processing facility in St. Télesphore are seeking help from municipal councils across the region – and they are gaining support.

On Monday evening, members of Vaudreuil-Dorion city council were asked to question Mayor Guy Pilon’s vote on the MRC council in support of the purchase of a seven-hectare site in St. Télesphore, which residents say covers crucial underground water sources that could be put at risk of contamination by the facility.

Last week, the growing group of residents opposed to the project – the largest in the MRC’s history – were in Pincourt, urging elected officials there to do the same. Including in that group was the former mayor of St. Télesphore, Claude Cyr, who now lives in Pincourt.

So far, three municipal councils in the region – St. Polycarpe, Ste. Justine de Newton and Coteau du Lac – have adopted formal resolutions in the last month urging the MRC to reconsider its choice of locations for the plant. These towns have asked the MRC to consider an industrial site for the facility.

The pressure campaign to convince members of the MRC council to reconsider the site location is expected to continue later today, as the MRC hosts its regular public meeting at 7: 30 p.m. at the MRC offices, 208 Harwood Blvd. in Vaudreuil-Dorion.

Next week, residents from across the region are invited to attend an information session to learn more about the project, an event that some Vaudreuil-Dorion councillors said Monday they would attend to get answers to the questions they have about the project. The information sessions will be held Nov. 29, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., at the Centre Socioculturel de Très St. Rédempteur, 808 Principale St.

To register, go to MRC’s website at https://mrcvs.ca/.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1510 West

Beaconsfield council next week is expected to vote on a zoning change that would allow a residential development project transform a rundown strip mall just north of Highway 20 to move forward.

“It will be on the agenda for approval by council at the next public meeting on Nov. 20,” Mayor Georges Bourelle told The 1510 West, referring to a project that would revamp Elm Plaza on Elm Avenue, west of St. Charles Blvd.

But not all councillors, however, may agree with the zoning change, said Bourelle.

“It’s possible council won’t approve it,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”

In September, council granted preliminary approval to a proposed plan to transform the shopping plaza into a mixed-use commercial development with a high-rise residential component that would include 130 units – 13 townhouses and 117 condos.

Earlier in the year council had rejected the first version of the plan that featured 14 townhouses and 138 condo units, with parking space for up to 211 vehicles and 30 bikes. That project was slammed by local residents, who argued it would lead to major traffic headaches on the surrounding residential streets.

The new plan was outlined at a public consultation meeting Oct. 24, where residents again expressed their concerns about the proposed plan.

They wanted to know how the revised project if given final approval will impact their neighbourhood, especially regarding increased traffic and whether there will be adequate parking for everyone.

Bourelle said it was premature to bring up these issues at this point because council has to first approve the zoning change and the city has not yet received a final plan from the developer.

“We haven’t seen the revised architectural design of the project,” he said last week.

The city will be able to answer citizens’ concerns about the project only after the developer resubmits its revised architectural design to the city. But first, council has to approve the zoning change, which is crucial for any residential plan to move forward.

“It’s not a done deal,” Bourelle said. “There’s a lot that still has to be adjusted before council would go ahead with it.

If council adopts the zoning change, citizens could still block the initiative at the public registry stage. If enough signatures are collected on the registry, council would be forced to withdraw the zoning change or put it to a referendum.

At the end of 2022, the plaza was sold for $9 million to a numbered company, which put forward the redevelopment plan.

Cutline:

Beaconsfield council is set to vote on a zoning change for the Elm Plaza site to allow a proposed commercial-residential project to move forward.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1510 West

The plan to tear down the ruins of the Braerob Farmhouse in Ste. Anne de Bellevue has been stopped, said the town’s mayor, Paola Hawa.

“The Montreal agglomeration has put a hold on our plans, as has the provincial Ministry of Culture and Communications at the provincial level,” Hawa told The 1510 West. “Now, we’re waiting for them to get back to us as to what the next steps could possibly be.”

The historical significance and value of the farmhouse, which dates back to 1797, were the reasons given for stopping the demolition two months after the town submitted its demolition request in September, Hawa said.

Ste. Anne council opted to demolish the ruins because the cost of renovating the stone farmhouse, known officially as the Maison Michel Robillard, was simply too high for the small town to cover.

“We had the money pre-COVID, but when all the prices exploded after COVID, the cost is now double what it was. We can’t afford it any more,” Hawa said.

The original cost of the renovation work was about $2.4 million, with the town footing less than half as it had a $1.4-million grant from the province. But now the cost estimates have nearly doubled to $4.3 million.

“That’s too expensive,” Hawa said. “We reached out to them and said it was all right a few years ago, but now with this new reality and pricing it just doesn’t cut it.”

The town is waiting to hear from the Montreal agglomeration and provincial culture ministry regarding their restoration proposals for the farmhouse.

“It’s basically out of our hands right now,” Hawa said. We did the first step in the process of holding a demolition committee and recommending the demolition.”

“But because of the way the process and structure is set up, that resolution has to go to the agglo and Quebec,” she explained. “Once they found out our intention, they contacted us and put a stop to the demolition until they could do whatever they need to do on their end.”

“Your guess is as good as mine as to what’s going to happen next.” Hawa added.

It is now uncertain whether a structure that will serve as a welcome centre at the entrance to the l’Anse à l’Orme Nature Park will be ready by the time the elevated REM commuter rail service arrives in 2024.

“The window is narrowing. Either we’re going to have to renovate the Braerob if some money falls from the sky and/or we’re going to have to build a new entrance,” Hawa said. “It’s a pretty long, laborious process. You have to get the design, approve it, go out for quotes publicly. You just don’t build something.”

The town of Ste. Anne acquired the old house in 2018 from the Grilli Property Group, which had owned it since 2005 and had intended to build a residential housing development in the surrounding area.

At a cost to Ste. Anne of $60,000, the purchase of the old stone house was part of a larger scheme that saw the Montreal agglomeration invest about $11 million to expand the Anse à l’Orme park, a move the ended a long-running campaign that had pit conservationists against the real estate developer. Later, the city of Montreal invested another $21 million to expand the Grand Parc de l’Ouest.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

Liza Baboolal wants her brother to be remembered for how he was always willing to help people.

The St. Lazare resident is mourning the loss of her 37-year-old brother, Kevin Baboolal, whose body was found Oct. 20 in a wooded area in the Chaline Valley area of St. Lazare, five months after he went missing.

“I want him to be remembered as a generous and helpful person,” Liza Baboolal said in an interview with The 1019 Report. “He would just drop everything and be there for me and my family. This is what I’ll miss the most about him. He would have given the shirt off his back.”

Kevin’s disappearance on May 18 triggered an intense search by the Sûreté du Québec. The SQ set up a command post in front of St. Lazare town hall and performed intense ground searches, with officers taking to a variety of wooded areas on all-terrain vehicles, while helicopters searched from the sky without any success. Residents also volunteered to take part in the effort in the days and weeks following the initial report of his disappearance.

According to SQ spokesperson Valerie Beauchamp, Baboolal’s body was finally found by a hiker, who alerted police. His bicycle, equipped with a trailer, which he had reportedly left his home with the day he went missing, were found nearby.

There were no signs of a crime at the scene where the body was found, Beauchamp said.

“Please understand that our hearts are torn,” Liza Baboolal wrote in a Facebook post last week. “We feel completely devastated that he is no longer by our side.”

The family has not finalized funeral arrangements.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

After months of discussions to provide much needed arena services to the residents on the island of Île Perrot, the mayors of Notre Dame de l’Île Perrot, Pincourt and Terrasse-Vaudreuil jointly dropped the puck to officially start the first hockey game at the Cité des Jeunes arena in Vaudreuil-Dorion late last month, marking the launch of an unusual but effective solution to the growing demand for ice time.

It was a momentous event for the three mayors – Danie Deschênes, Claude Comeau and Michel Bourdeau – who started the process to purchase an arena outside of their territories in neighbouring Vaudreuil-Dorion earlier this year. Then, in August, the town of Vaudreuil-Dorion announced it would purchase the private arena on the campus of École secondaire de la Cité-des-Jeunes on St. Charles Ave. for $3.15 million, and lease it to the three Ile Perrot towns.

Now, the three towns jointly manage the facility.

“We are cooperating together fully so that all expenses and revenues are managed by Notre Dame in the name of the three cities,” Deschênes said in an interview. “We have an intercity agreement.”

The initiative will provide residents and sports leagues in the three municipalities with the option of having nearby arena services. The town of Île Perrot opted out of joining the deal.

Under the terms of the agreement, the three municipalities will pay for the mortgage, interest, maintenance and repairs for the next three to five years. Vaudreuil-Dorion, however, will maintain ownership of the facility.

“It was a financially stable arena, so we’re not worried,” Deschênes said. “We’re doing quite good in terms of what we understood the cost would be and what it is now. There are no big surprises.”

The three-to-five-year timeframe will give the three municipalities time to look into building their own indoor sports facility on Île Perrot.

“We are working to have something on the island but we needed to make sure we have an option for the families to use the arena until we move forward with our own project,” said Deschênes.

“I think this is the best solution we could find in order to preserve our hockey teams and also our free public skating,” Deschênes said. “The agreement is well done, well thought out and, for now, it’s going really well. It’s really a win-win situation between the four cities.”

The arena may also be used for summer activities.

“We have the option of opening it up for other sports or cultural events, so it depends on the planning we’ll do in the spring,” Deschênes said. “We definitely are open to greet teams for lacrosse, hockey or whatever, but not on the ice.”

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

The reopening of a third lane in the direction of rush-hour traffic across the Île aux Tourtes Bridge earlier this month has given commuters some relief from long delays, but it does not signal the end of roadwork to maintain the aging span.

In fact, the ongoing work has no end in sight. Restricting traffic over the span in the form of additional lane closures is expected to continue regularly over weekends at various intervals.

“What we know for sure is that there is going to be maintenance work until the bridge is dismantled,” said Transport Quebec spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun earlier this month.

But one detail involving the ongoing work that is coming into sharper focus is its cost, which has now been pegged at $376.7 million.

That figure includes the nearly $176 million spent before the beginning of this year on safety and repairs of the two-kilometre bridge. The earlier work, carried out from 2020 to 2022, include reinforcement of the bridge supports, replacement of the central mall and relocation of the lighting.

The latest $43.7-million contract was awarded to carry out work that will continue into 2025, which includes beam and slab repairs, installation of a waterproofing membrane, asphalt replacement and other related work.

Reinforcement work on the bridge was carried out between December 2022 and September 2023.

“The bridge will not be back to full capacity with three lanes of traffic in each direction by the time the new bridge is fully commissioned,” said Bensadoun.

The Transport Ministry’s objective now is to maintain five lanes of traffic, including three lanes in the direction of peak traffic.

Three eastbound lanes are now open during the morning rush hour towards Montreal from 4 a.m. until 11 a.m. and three westbound lanes towards Vaudreuil-Dorion are open during the afternoons and evenings, from 1 p.m. until 2 a.m. the following morning.

As for future lane closures for maintenance work, Bensadoun said the procedure will be to close one lane if necessary during the off-peak traffic hours when necessary.

“This means during evenings, nights and weekends,” she specified. “Most of the time it should be during these times unless we have another emergency situation.”

And this will be on an ongoing basis.

“We will have lane closures on the bridge until 2026,” Bensadoun said.

Transport Quebec will provide information and updates about upcoming lane closures on the span on its website before they occur.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

While the province of Quebec is footing the bill for the $2.6-billion price tag for the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital – touted as the largest public investment project in the region’s history – taxpayers in the city of Vaudreuil-Dorion will be paying the tab for part of several infrastructure upgrades related to the project.

The upgrades will come in the form of everything from road network improvements to the building of a new water reservoir, work that will cost between $67 million and $75 million, according to city officials. But the city will only have to cover about 40 per cent of those costs, or between $26.8 million and $30 million.

“The reason why there’s still a bit of a range is because in some cases, in some of the projects, we’re still at the concept stage,” said Pierre Lacoste, the project manager of the hospital infrastructure division within the city’s engineering and environment department.

“We don’t want to make the mistake of announcing a price and not being able to meet it,” Lacoste said in an interview with The 1019 Report.

The city is working closely with the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), the project management team that is building the hospital, on all work being carried out.

Vaudreuil-Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon said the infrastructure upgrades will benefit not only Vaudreuil-Dorion, but all residents in the region when they are completed, and the hospital itself will serve the region well.

“For me, as for any mayor, this is a big, big plus. All the hospital services will be here so people will no longer have to drive to the Lakeshore. I know the citizens will be happy to see the results of having a new modern hospital with all the technologies,” Pilon said.

Among the roadwork planned as part of the hospital project is the reconfiguration of the intersection of De la Gare and Cité des Jeunes boulevards, expansion of the city’s water and sewage networks and adding a new water reservoir to expand the municipality’s water capacity.

Lacoste said Quebec will pay roughly 60 per cent of the cost for all the work that is undertaken in the city by channelling the funds to the provincial departments involved in each part, including the health and transport ministries.

The funds are managed by the provincial treasury and distributed through the appropriate ministries involved, Lacoste said. 

The city will pay for the full cost of upgrading the roadways in its territory, while the Transport Ministry will pay for the portion of roadway along the Highway 30 exit ramp.

The city will, however, have to pay the entire cost to reconfigure the intersection at Henry Ford Street and Cité des Jeunes, near the hospital.

“Henry Ford is a municipal intersection which belongs to the municipality and the city manages it,” Lacoste said.

“Things that are under the transport ministry will be paid by the SQI and the city will pay for everything on its territory,” Lacost said. “The SQI, through the Conseil de Trésor, are paying roughly 59 to 60 percent of the work that has to be done in the city,” Lacoste added.

One project that is almost completed is the reconfiguration of Chemin de la Petite Rivière at Route 340, west of Highway 30.

The roadway was straightened at the intersection to align with the hospital entrance and a right turn lane onto Route 340 east (Harwood) was added.

The 404-bed hospital, which is expected to open in the beginning of 2027, will create 10,034 jobs between now and 2026, according to a study prepared last year by Développement Vaudreuil-Soulanges, the regional economic agency, and the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie Ouest. Once opened, the hospital will also generate 3,200 permanent positions, including doctors, nurses and orderlies. According to the study, the facility and the jobs it creates will trigger more than 1,600 households to relocate to Vaudreuil-Soulanges, leading to a major real estate boom and allowing municipalities to collect more in property taxes.

The facility will have an annual operating budget of $465 million, including $330 million in salaries and benefits.

JOHN JANTAK
The 1510 Report

It is projected that the population of Kirkland will grow by as much as a third in the next 10 years, but the town’s expansion will not be limited to the residential sector. It’s industrial and commercial base is going to get bigger, too. And signs of that building boom can already be seen on the north side of Highway 40, where the steel frames of two massive industrial buildings are taking shape.

In fact, there will be three new structures in the industrial campus north of the highway just west of St. Charles Blvd., a strip that encompasses 1.3 million square feet, when the buildings are completed

The project represents a $300-million investment by the Rosefellow real estate management and development firm which owns the land.

“One reason for the large investment is because all three buildings will be carbon neutral,” said Kirkland director general Joe Sanalitro.

“This is very important to the town in order to reach our objectives in terms of sustainable development. There are not too many buildings like this right now on the Island of Montreal,” Sanalitro added.

“The land, which is zoned industrial, was expropriated by the city 12 years ago for $25 million and we sold it for $70 million. There was a welcome tax of over $1.6 million,” said Mayor Michel Gibson.

The city is not yet sure how much tax revenue will be generated after the construction phase is completed.

The first building will be completed by the end of this year and the other two by spring 2024. The tenants of the new buildings have not yet been publicly announced. More than 800 trees will be planted on the site.

New commercial operations, too

The city’s commitment to sustainable development is also what prompted electric carmaker Tesla to locate in a 90,000-square-foot dealership along the Highway 40 service road east of St. Charles Blvd.

“They wanted to set up shop in Kirkland because of the services we give our residents and to the commercial sector as well,” Sanalitro said. “We’re happy to have them because their mission lines up with our sustainability plan as well.”

It took almost three years of discussions between the city, Tesla and the Broccolini Group, which developed and manages the property, to realize the project.

“They did a great job on the site itself. We had some high standards in terms of architecture and they were willing to follow those standards,” Sanalitro said. “And we’re happy with the result.”

Another major project currently under way is the expansion of the Canadian Tire retail outlet on Highway 40 west of St. Charles Blvd., which is building an extension to its existing building that will add about a third more space to the retail outlet.

“It’s a big project. They’re modernizing the whole store,” Sanalitro explained. “The expansion is mostly on the west side of the structure where they had the outdoor nursery.”

He added the city council is very selective with the development projects that are authorized in Kirkland.

“We really strive hard to keep the quality of life for the residents versus development,” Sanalitro said. “There’s always aspects that are considered by council, the impact on quality of life but also the balance between development and the quality of development.”

In the next decade, the population of Kirkland, which now stands at about just over 19,000 is expected to reach about 30,000, with the jump in the number of residents coinciding with the opening of the REM light rail service, mitigating the demand a growing population will put on the region’s road network.

There are currently three residential projects in the works in Kirkland, including the Lacey Green Village development. This project – which stretches from the border with Pointe Claire westward, between Brunswick Blvd. and the Highway 40 service road – includes 47 single-family homes, 110 townhouses and up to 900 condo units in a string of buildings that could be as high as 12 storeys. Another 800 units will be found in four buildings slated to go up near Ste. Marie Road, and another development with an as of yet undetermined number of units will be built on the site of the RioCan Centre near the Kirkland cinema.

Cutline: The steel frame of new industrial building can be seen taking shape north of Highway 40, west of St. Charles.

Credit: The 1510 West

JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

The plan to open a $20-million composting facility in St. Télesphore – a project described by regional officials as “the biggest environmental project” in the MRC of Vaudreuil-Soulanges – is not complete but continues to draw criticism from residents concerned about the impact it will have on the environment and the residents who live closest to it.

But MRC officials says the plant – which will be similar to a composting facility opened in Cowansville – will follow all provincial environmental standards. And they refute concerns the facility will be nothing more than a landfill.

“We understand there are some concerns and we really want to give the right information about this project and what’s going to happen in the next few months and years,” said MRC spokesperson Catherine St-Amour.

Last week, in an often fiery question period at the MRC meeting, about 50 people peppered the mayors of the region about the project. From wanting to know what other sites were considered before selecting the site in St. Télesphore for the facility, to how many trucks will travel to the site, to the impact on ground water in the region, residents outlined their concerns.

The confrontation was just a few days after a group of about 30 staged a short protest at the site of the planned facility, two lots near a sand quarry on St. Antoine Road, which the MRC is finalizing the purchase of for the project.

Residents will be kept informed throughout the entire development process, said MRC prefect Patrick Bousez, adding that each phase of the project will have to be approved by the provincial Environment Ministry.

The plan would see all of the region’s organic waste, which is now trucked to Lachute, to be processed in St. Télesphore.

One of the advantages of having a dedicated compost processing centre in the region, St-Amour said, is the high-quality compost that will be produced will be available exclusively for Vaudreuil-Soulanges residents.

“The organic material that will be going to the facility will be only from our region and the compost that is made will be redistributed in the region,” she said.

Only green waste, autumn leaves and food waste from Vaudreuil-Soulanges will be processed at the regional composting platform.

St-Amour dismissed rumours that the proposed centre would be a landfill site, saying landfills are prohibited on Vaudreuil-Soulanges territory.

Residents of St. Télesphore were invited to an information session about the planned facility last week. Future sessions will be open to all residents of Vaudreuil-Soulanges, but no dates have been set for these meetings.

According to the MRC, the cost of building the $20-million facility will be offset by a $5.4-million subsidy from the province. It will have an annual operating budget of $1.4 million, and the estimated cost of treating organic waste at the facility will be about $100 per tonne.