Laval City Hall Watch - July 6 2016

Young Promoters Fund

The Young Promoters Fund, (FJP), aims to help young entrepreneurs to take over a business, to create or acquire one, and to support them in their entrepreneurial aspirations. Members of the executive committee have authorized financial assistance totaling $ 68,000 to be distributed among 16 individuals. The ultimate goal is to stimulate the growth of local entrepreneurship and emerging economic sectors. By promoting the creation of new enterprises focused on the distinctive strengths of the local economic it is hoped that new opportunities can be developed in our area which will attract and retain a skilled workforce.

 Land exchange 

The executive committee has come to agreement for the exchange of land required for the development of a park. This will allow the city to save the complete cost of the purchase of land for the implementation of a park in conjunction with the project PL-2012/5084 which is part of the construction of the new Avenir School in the district of St. Martin. This exchange of lots completed the agreement negotiated with the Laval School Board. July 17 2015 the city had ceded land to the Laval School Board in their project to expand the Oree-des-Bois School

Purchase of water overflow measuring devices

The municipal regulations governing domestic waterworks and waste water runoff require all overflow structures to be equipped with overflow recorders. The overflow structures protect against flooding during periods of excessive water accumulations and backlogs. These devices allow for the recording of the frequency of overflows, the time at which they occur and their daily cumulative duration. This information at the same time helps to determine the volume of untreated waste water that flows back into the natural environment and also helps identify areas that may require expanded facilities for the management of waste water flow in the city water works and storm drain systems.

The Executive Committee therefore agreed to proceed with the purchase of these devices via a public tender as well as the professional services for their deployment, operation and the professional services of consulting engineers for oversights required during construction.

 Land Acquisition for the purpose of developing green spaces

The executive committee accepted an offer to purchase a riverfront lot located southeast of riviera street near a large park area on the la berge du Grand-Brochet (Grand Pike River Bank). The negotiated purchase price was in the amount of $`18,000.

This investment is part of the land acquisition program for the protection and improvement of green spaces for which the administration has approved a budget of $4.2 million in the 2016-2018 three year capital infrastructure development program.

The Chomedey Arena to be renamed the Pierre Creamer Arena

The executive committee had approved a recommendation that was to be presented to the city council for ratification to change the name of the Chomedey Arena to Pierre Creamer arena. City council accepted the recommendation during the regular June 7^th council meeting. Pierre Creamer was named to the Laval Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 for his implications in hockey which went beyond the borders of Laval.

Pierre Creamer (born July 6, 1944) is a former hockey coach. He was head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1987-1988 NHL season. Creamer who was born in Chomedey is also the brother-in-law of former NHL star Mike Bossy who has also been honored in similar fashion by Laval.

Creamer previously coached the Sherbrooke Canadians, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. He led the team to a Calder Cup championship in his first year behind the bench and ended his three-year tenure with a 120-104-4 record. Creamer had also held a job as coach of the Verdun Juniors of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Speed limit signalization modified around certain parks

The executive committee has asked for the review of the signalization of speed limits around parks and school parks that have recently been modified with the addition of new playground modules. As some of these installations are new the public works department has been asked to review existing road signs around the following schools and municipal parks to ensure that adequate warning of the revised speed limit in these zones is provided. The parks and schools involved in the review include Madeleine and Twin-Oaks, Durocher, Olier-Payette, Mont-Royal, Calvi, Ivan-Pavlov, J.-M.-Daigneault, l’Odyssée-des-jeunes, des Choucas, Parenteau, Ferme-Ste-Thérèse, Gilbert, Émile-Zola et Cœur-Soleil.

New chalet for Saint Norbert Park

The park chalet at Park St. Norbert is outdated and in poor condition. The executive committee has approved to demolish it and build a new one at the same location. Funds for this project are budgeted in the 2016-2018 three-year capital infrastructure expenditure program. The Executive Committee members have adopted a resolution to approve the solicitation of bids by public tender for the realization of this project.

Social Housing Symposium

Members of the executive committee have awarded a grant of $ 7,000 to the Association coopérative d’économie de l’Île Jésus (local cooperative association) for the organization of a symposium on social housing in Laval which will be held October 13, 2016. Many social services and housing assistance organizations have decried the lack of affordable housing in Laval. Despite the obvious economic development witnessed in Laval the need for social housing has grown and that the immediate needs call for the construction of an additional thousand social housing units.

Overhaul of dog parks Lausanne and des Rossignols

As part of the redevelopment and renovation of the dog park des Rossignols and Lausanne, located on the properties of the Hydro Quebec transmission lines, the city needed to obtain formal permission from Hydro Quebec for their development and land use. The permissions have been obtained and the first hurdle overcome the executive committee has endorsed the preliminary plans prerequisite for executing the renovations and infrastructure work.

Laval City Hall Watch: June 25 2016

Early opening of outdoor swimming pools, wading pools and water games

To cool off during the summer the city provides public wading pools, water parks and swimming pools in numerous Laval parks. This year some pools have opened earlier than the school year end. The preseason schedule of activities began from the 18^th  and till the 23^rd of June will operate at the following parks; swimming pools and wading pools of  Du Moulin, Saint Vincent, Saint-Claude, Pius X, Couvrette, Roi-du-Nord and Willows will operate on Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 am to 8:00 pm as well as Mondays to Fridays from 3:00pm to 8:00 pm.

Water games facilities were also opened from the 13th of June and till the 26^th the St. Vincent, Gabriel Pelletier, Rosaire-Gauthier, Saint-Claude, des Coccinelles, Champfleury, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin and Paradis are available every day from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

After that date all parks are open and the summer schedule is in force

Construction Work continues in Samson and Saint-François arenas

Major renovations are ongoing at the Samson and St. Francis ice rinks. The long awaited refurbishments are expected to be completed by December 2016. To ensure that local sports associations and the general public are not deprived of ice time during this period, an amount of $ 200,000 has been budgeted for 2016. The money will allow for the rental of eight hundred hours of ice time in private and adjacent municipal arenas in order to compensate for lost hours resulting from the temporary closure of the two Laval arenas.

In another related matter the executive committee has approved the issuance of a grant of $ 45,000 to the Hockey Laval sport association to help fund the renting of ice time at Guimond Sports Complex for the 2015-2016 season. The administration is reassuring local sport authorities that all inconveniences are temporary in nature as the scheduled opening of the Place Bell complex in the fall of 2017 will add two new rinks in Laval’s inventory greatly improving access to ice time in Laval.

The remarkable trees of Laval

The Executive Committee agreed to provide funding of $ 15,000 to the Regional Environmental Council of Laval for the printing and publication of the book “Remarkable Trees of Laval”. The publication marks the 20th anniversary of the organization and the 12th Canadian Conference on urban forest. Laval is host of the 2016 conference which lasts four days. More than three hundred participants are expected to attend. Foresters, urban planners, policy makers and specialists in the environment arriving from across Canada will take part in training workshops.

Discussions will center on the benefits and features of urban forests, new strategies and promote techniques aimed at preserving and managing the urban forests in our country.

The Regional Council of the Environment (CRE) of Laval was founded in January 1996 by citizens and environmental organizations in the region. Its mission is to improve the quality of the environment and promote sustainable development.

Renaming a park

The Executive Committee has approved a motion to put forth a recommendation to the city council to change the name of the ‘Roi-du-Nord’ (King of the North) park in St. Rose to that of Raymond Millar Park. This approval followed a endorsement received from the Urban Planning Advisory Committee. .

Virginie Dufour, councillor of Sainte-Rose tabled a petition signed by 615 Lavallers supporting this request at the April 5^th regular city council meeting. According to councillor Dufour support for this name change is unanimous in the neighborhood.
It was Jean Roberge president of Football Laval who had initiated the request for the name change a few years ago. However upon the recent death of Raymond Millar this past January the efforts were renewed with great community support. Many residents of St. Rose felt the need to honor the memory of one of their community’s great volunteers. The Club Fabrose, Wolves of Curé-Antoine-Labelle and the Laval North Shore Vikings all supported the effort citing that it would be a fitting gesture to highlight the 50th anniversary of Laval North Vikings.

Raymond Millar was involved at some time or another in almost all sport and leisure associations of Sainte-Rose. His fifty five years of services began in 1961. From 1986 to 1994 he was Vice President of Football Laval and Vice President of the Vikings of Laval-Nord from 1995 to 2016.

Above ground pools in areas of mobile homes

The Executive Committee has approved a motion to be brought before the city council for the adoption of the bylaw L-2001-3662 draft regulation that amends the City’s Bylaw L-2000 to allow the installation of above ground pools in residential areas made up of mobile homes RM, RM-1 RM-3. This recommendation will be tabled for city council approval in a subsequent council meeting.

Grants awarded to local associations

The following is a list of grants approved by the executive in support of various associations organizing activities and services in local neighborhoods. Autism Society and TED received $3000 to help operate a summer camp program in 2016. The Laval School Board Foundation received a sum of $3000 and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board Foundation was given a sum of $1500 to help support the organization of friendly sports matches between students and elected officials of the City of Laval as part of their staying in school initiatives.

The Special Olympics Québec Activity received $2500 to defray costs of their “The course of Heroes” activity held at Laval’s nature park Centre de la Nature. An amount of $1500 was given to the Opération Enfant Soleil / Fund Marie-Soleil Tougas fund raising effort and $1000 to Cycling Tour of Laval police whose efforts support children’s needs.

Also an amount of $1000 was allocated to the Volunteer Association of the residential and palliative care center Rose-de-Lima for their March for Dignity campaign.

More than half a million dollars approved for cultural organizations

The City of Laval approves financial grants each year to various cultural organizations of Laval which allows for their research, development and implementation of their activities. The administration views these nonprofit associations as important partners for delivering much appreciated services to the community at large. According to an executive spokesperson these organizations provide cultural offerings that contribute to the vitality and advancement of Laval culture.

The list of organizations receiving grants approved by the executive committee totaling $ 546 500 include: Arts et spectacles de Laval for $33,000; Bluff Productions $40,000; Centre d’archives de Laval $50,000; Chœur de Laval $12,000; Corporation de la Salle André-Mathieu

$140,000; Harpagon Théâtre $15,000; La Centrale des artistes $25,000; Lis avec moi $25,000;

Productions le P’tit monde $10,000; Rencontre Théâtre Ados $40,000; Réseau Arthist

$30,000; Réseau des organismes culturels et des artistes lavallois $15,000; Société des arts visuels de Laval $40,000; Société d’histoire et de généalogie de l’île Jésus $20,000; Société littéraire de Laval $40,000; Théâtre incliné $23,000 and Théâtre du P’tit Loup $8,500.