master plan

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