master plan

Major CSL master plan consult takes place Jan. 13

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

An important step in Côte St. Luc’s master plan for the future of the city will take place at CSL city hall 7 p.m. Monday Jan. 13 when a legal public consultation takes place, part of the process leading up to the passage of final bylaws.

There has been tension regarding the master plan in recent weeks, with councillors Mike Cohen and Oren Sebag voting against draft bylaws because of objections regarding the process. Residents living around Décarie Square are also concerned a possible mixed development — including residential — could bring extra traffic. The owners of Décarie Square, as reported by The Suburban, have told the city that after five years of waiting if the redevelopment of the mall is not approved by the end of March, the mall administration will renew the lease of the popular store Winners and bring in the massive T&T Asian supermarket for a long-term lease. The Suburban has seen that the nearby St. Laurent T&T is very popular, with parking spaces sometimes difficult to find.

In the meantime, the city has released a plethora of information regarding the master plan at its cotesaintluc.org/engage website. Some of the most pertinent information:

• “In a context where there is a limited availability of land, the city must promote redevelopment with a focus on optimizing land value and transforming underused urban spaces to create sustainable, harmonious, and dynamic areas.”

• Urban redevelopment must involve “a renewal of residential neighbourhoods, adapting to the context and needs of the population and through judicious adjustment of densities when necessary” and “the transformation and consolidation of specific sites with considerable potential.”

The potential redevelopment of Quartier Cavendish, the CSL Shopping Centre and Décarie Square “would take the form of dense, mixed-use development projects. With their large expanses of underused surface parking, there is a considerable opportunity to optimize the properties and create high quality residential and commercial spaces.”

• Regarding Quartier Cavendish, “this redevelopment represents a unique opportunity for the City to create a true town centre and civic hub. It is essential that shops and local services be retained in a redevelopment project, in addition to interior and exterior public spaces.”

• Regarding the CSL Shopping Centre, it “currently provides all the proximity services for nearby residents, and these must be maintained. As it currently has a vast surface parking lot, there is high potential for high density, mixed-use infill development with large public spaces, which would optimize the land and fill in a gap in the urban tissue.” However, “the existence of a fast-food chain with a drive-through located on the property (McDonald’s) is incongruent with the notion of a pedestrian and transit-oriented neighbourhood, and it increases potential pedestrian-vehicle conflict.”

Regarding Décarie Square, “with high-density residential towers nearby, this site has strong potential for a high-density mixed-use development, which would become a complete satellite town centre in CSL. Given that Decarie Square is considered part of the Namur-De la Savane strategic planning sector, any redevelopment project must compliment other large-scale projects in the area, such as the Westbury, the Éco-quartier Namur-Hippodrome, and the Triangle.”

CSL’s document also deals with Westminster Avenue, the area at Caldwell and Kildare, and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway Yard — CSL wants the latter to become, in the long term, a “habitable, mixed-use environment. The development of this site must integrate harmoniously with the city’s current and planned urban fabric and transportation networks along the Cavendish Corridor.” n

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CSL status quo unsustainable: Berku

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The status quo is unsustainable for Côte St. Luc in terms of its long-term future, especially in terms of needed future revenue, CSL councillor Dida Berku told a public information meeting on the city’s master plan, pre-consultations for which began in 2022.

The master plan includes issue of mobility, the potential redevelopment of the city’s three malls and the creation of small neighbourhoods in these areas, and possible train stations at the CSL Shopping Centre and Décarie Square. The next step will be the notice of motion and adoption of first drafts for Planning Program [Master Plan], Town Centre Special Planning Program, Zoning By-Law, PIIA By-law and other Urban Planning-related by-laws” on Oct. 21.

Residents asked about a variety of issues, including parking at the new redevelopments, coordination with Montreal, plans for Westminster and other topics. Also in attendance were CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and members of council, D’Arcy McGee MNA Elisabeth Prass and English Montreal School Board chairman Joe Ortona, amongst many others.

Brownstein said the city has no specific plans or proposals that have been presented to them, “we just have a lot of great ideas, and what we want to do is have you as a community make those ideas better.”

Berku told the meeting that “we have to ask how we’re going to face the future.

“The status quo is not sustainable,” she said. “I cannot emphasize this enough. The owners of the malls are not able to maintain their malls in the state they’re in. Their evaluations are declining. The contribution they make in terms of taxes are not increasing at the same rate that everybody here is increasing in taxes. By allowing the status quo to stagnate, we cannot sustain the level of [local] service.”

Berku revealed that CSL has to spend, over the next three years according to the city’s engineering department, $15 million for work on the Côte St. Luc Road underpass.

“We share it with the City of Montreal. They come up with the plans and they tell us we have to contribute [that amount]. We only spend $3 million a year on roads! So how are we going to afford this?”

The councillor also pointed out that if CSL wants to redo its roads, lead pipes, water and other infrastructure, “we need more than $3 million a year. We need $10 million, and to maintain the proper level of taxation, [the malls] are all we have. If they are willing [to develop them] — it’s a combination of circumstances that is very opportune for CSL. We are lucky that the agglomeration and the Quebec government are also forcing us to update our plans and we have three major developers who want to do it in a way that’s constructive and positive, and it’s going to be a benefit for all the existing taxpayers of CSL.” n

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