But administration wants to put a library on vacant lot on Jacques Tétreault St.
In a relatively rare instance of agreement, Laval city council’s two main opposition parties and a third political entity without council seats have all agreed that a vacant lot owned by the city in Laval’s rapidly growing downtown sector should be used for a badly-needed public park, rather than for a library as planned by the Boyer administration.
Site chosen for new library
The lot, on Jacques Tétreault St. and a short distance from the Montmorency Metro, has already been singled out by the city as the location for a new municipal library building with a cultural centre.
Still, the three parties, as well as some residents in this mixed commercial/residential area, believe it would be much wiser to establish a park because of the crying local lack of green space in an area that is over-saturated as it is with asphalt and concrete.
Saying no to pavement
To make their point, the leaders of the official opposition Parti Laval, the secondary opposition Action Laval, and the unelected Ma Ville Maintenant, planted a sapling tree last week in a corner of the vacant lot to illustrate their point that greenery is needed much more in the area than pavement, bricks and steel.
“This planting could be the first phase of the implementation of a future green space,” said Parti Laval interim-leader Claude Larochelle, who is the city councillor for Fabreville, adding that “Mayor Boyer should stop repeating the errors of the past.
The future to be considered
“To build and to keep building, without regard to the real needs of the population and the consequences for the quality of the living environment,” he said. “There is already enough concrete in the downtown area and so little green space. We have to think about future generations.”
Larochelle said the green space in the vacant piece of land could one day be comparable in grandeur to Dorchester Square in downtown Montreal or the Carré Saint-Louis some distance to the east of there.
A missed opportunity?
“Imagine what this island of refreshment and greenery could do for the residents of this area,” he said. “This unique space opens the door towards creating an environment for living to inspire the people residing here or coming to this sector. The city shouldn’t let this opportunity pass.”
Action Laval finds it deplorable that the people living in the area were never fully consulted about the future of the lot, even though it’s virtually the dead-centre of their living environment. While the administration did set up a web page with some information, Action Laval doesn’t consider that to have been an adequate consultation.
“The next phase will be to consult all the citizens of the sector to learn their views,” said Action Laval city councillor for Saint-Bruno David De Cotis.
‘Makes no sense,’ says De Cotis
“The Boyer administration is sacrificing one of the last vacant lots in the centre-city to implement a concrete monument that nobody asked for, and this makes no sense,” added De Cotis. He suggested that a desperate need exists in other neighbourhoods of Laval for infrastructure such as community centres and libraries.
Pierre Anthian, a former Laval-des-Rapides city councillor who ran for mayor in the last municipal elections as leader of the Ma Ville Maintenant party, noted that the residents of Laval-des-Rapides “have very few places to find shelter in the shade just as heat waves are becoming more numerous.”
Everybody benefits: Revelakis
Although the district of Chomedey has interests apart from those of Laval-des-Rapides, Chomedey city councillor Aglaia Revelakis said she is supporting the idea of the new park because it will eventually impact people from all over the city. “This is the future downtown of Laval and it’s a space that is going to be used by everybody,” said Revelakis.
“There are a lot condos around the area here and the Metro is here. But there’s no green space. We’re not against the library or cultural centre. But at the same time, we have to think about what is best for the families who live around here.”
