During their Sept. 29 public meeting, the members of the City of Laval’s executive-committee decided to provide subsidies to help promote the use of wood for various purposes, while also providing sums to promote the conservation of some underused forestlands on Laval’s territory.
In accordance with a provincial program for managing wildlife, parks and forests, the members of the executive-committee awarded a subsidy of $118,000 to the 4H Clubs Québec in order to encourage the use of wood in Laval.
With the money, 4H Clubs Québec is expected to develop several projects for the education and familiarization of the public to the value of wood. As part of the program, they will be doing the following:
- Leading awareness-raising activities on the recovery of wood in Laval, as well as the value of wood as a forest resource impacted by climatic changes;
- Produce teaching tools, while raising awareness among people in Laval;
- Develop awareness-raising activities on the transformation of wood during major events;
- Develop educational programs on how wood is transformed from beginning to end, and how climate change is affecting it.
Conservation program approved
The executive-committee decided to associate the city with the Société d’histoire naturelle de la vallée du Saint-Laurent (SHNVSL) and the Fondation de la faune in order to carry out a conservation project aimed at analyzing the potential for connecting Laval’s open nature areas to other green spaces on the island.
The project in question fits in with Laval’s standing plan for the conservation of its natural spaces, as well as the Montreal Metropolitan Community’s Trame verte et bleue program.
In Laval, the SHNVSL’s conservation project is expected to have a positive impact on a multitude of animal and vegetation species that live in Laval’s woods, including birds, pollinating insects, but especially brown snakes which are currently in decline in Quebec but remain present on Laval’s territory.
Executive-committee members
The City of Laval’s executive-committee meets each week to make decisions on a variety of issues. The executive-committee includes the following people: Mayor Marc Demers, vice-president Stéphane Boyer (also councillor for Duvernay–Pont-Viau) councillors Sandra Desmeules (Concorde–Bois-de-Boulogne), Ray Khalil (Sainte-Dorothée), Virginie Dufour (Sainte-Rose) and associate member Nicholas Borne (Laval-les-Îles).
City says street parking in Laval will be easier this winter
The city has announced that from Oct. 1 until the end of the coming winter, it will be possible to park on two sides of the street throughout Laval when snow removal operations are not underway.
The new policy is an important shift from the old way of parking during the winter, when car owners were expected to park on alternate sides of the street throughout the winter whether snow removal was taking place or not, drawing numerous complaints over the years.
The city says that with the help of special information resources, it will be keeping residents informed when parking on one side of the street will be prohibited during snow removal operations. The rest of the time, they will be able to park without hindrance from Oct. 1 to April 30.
In targeted areas, which is around 85 per cent of Laval’s territory, new street signs providing information on the new parking rules have been added to existing signage. The city says that alternating from one side to the other is now only applicable during street maintenance operations, and there is a phone number to call if necessary. “I am very happy to see the reflections and public consultations undertaken by the city with teams of professionals becoming a reality in order to answer to the parking needs of citizens,” said Mayor Marc Demers. “With this new way of doing things which has been tested with earlier pilot projects, car owners in Laval will more easily be able to park during the winter season.”
