Oren Sebag

Major CSL master plan consult takes place Jan. 13

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / August 4, 2025 / Côte St. Luc, Joel Goldenberg, master plan, Oren Sebag

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 Mayor not invited to master plan meeting

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / December 25, 2024 / Décarie Square, Joel Goldenberg, Mitchell Brownstein, Oren Sebag

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Last week at a District 1 information meeting hosted by Councillor Oren Sebag at the Le Vicomte residential complex, regarding what a potential redevelopment of Décarie Square could entail, it was revealed that Mayor Mitchell Brownstein was not invited to attend. Brownstein, who viewed the meeting on Zoom, revealed this as part of a long letter that he asked to be read to the meeting in lieu of attending — the letter was in response to a petition of Le Vicomte residents, put together by Sebag and residents, calling for a halt in the tabling of the master plan.

“I was disappointed that I was not allowed to attend, but I will maintain positive relations and open communications with Councillor Sebag, who I consider a friend, as with all my councillors,” Brownstein told The Suburban after the meeting’s conclusion. “We all want what’s best for the city.”

Tensions in Côte St. Luc over the master plan for the future of the city — including the potential redevelopment of its three malls — manifested themselves Nov. 20 when at a special meeting, council voted 6-2 for draft bylaws related to the plan. Sebag and District 2 councillor Mike Cohen voted against most of the draft bylaws, saying the more than two-year-old master plan process is flawed in terms of consultation and timings of meetings. Tense debates took place.

There will be a 7 p.m. Dec. 11 area meeting at Décarie Square, with doors open at 6:30 p.m., which will include attendance by the mayor, councillors and a presentation by city staff. During the Nov. 26 meeting, questions were raised about potential traffic issues, what the redevelopment of Décarie Square could entail and many other issues.

Councillor Dida Berku held her own master plan district meeting Nov. 5, to which she invited Brownstein and Councillor Steven Erdelyi, as well as CSL Shopping Centre representatives.

Asked about the non-invite of the Mayor, Sebag told The Suburban that the Nov. 26 meeting “was organized by the Vicomte, they sent the invitation…there was no reach out to other councillors because we, and I, wanted to present the facts as [related to the master plan].

“There is a clear exercise where they pitch the master plan…. This wasn’t a pitch. This was me presenting the facts and I do believe the way I presented it was different than the way [associate city manager Tanya Abramovitch] or Dida Berku would have done it, because they are pushing this master plan in a way that they might not be sensitive enough to the way the [area] residents feel.”

Asked for a response, Berku told The Suburban, “it’s not about who was invited or not invited, it’s about the traffic — there is a traffic problem and I am the champion of the city to solve those problems. We are working on it. There’s more things that will happen, and it’s not just in reaction to the master plan, it’s been the city’s mission for the past four years. We have enough briefs and presentations to wallpaper a room, and on Dec. 11, we’ll bring them all so everyone can see what we’re doing and continue to do to open up Vézina and Cavendish.”

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