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Bergeron Speaks in Favour of Green Space While Tremblay is Mum

Article by John Symon

Some 500 citizens rallied to preserve Meadowbrook as green space at the April 19 Montreal City Hall meeting. Environmentalists fear that the 57 hectare Meadowbrook Golf Course has already been approved for a residential development of 1,500 units in a back room deal. The rumoured residential project is in Lachine, but the site would presumably be accessed via Cote St Luc Road. Three rented buses filled with protesters left from Cote St Luc and Montreal West to attend the rally.

Richard Bergeron, who sits on Montreal’s executive committee where he is responsible for urban planning, spoke about Meadowbrook during the council meeting. He conceded that the residential project is well planned, but added it was a ‘good project in the wrong place,’ meaning that it should be built elsewhere, and that Meadowbrook be saved.  Bergeron, however, leads the opposition Projet Montreal party and it is unclear if Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay shares Bergeron’s opinions here. Tremblay has so far remained tight-lipped on the issue that could see a $500 million development proceeding on the golf course.
NDG councillor Peter McQueen, also of the Projet Montreal opposition party, was to have read a motion declaring that the site be designated as green space, but the meeting ran overtime. The citizens’ question period alone lasted almost two hours. Much of the agenda, including the Meadowbrook item, was postponed until another meeting of council scheduled for Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, the Friends of Meadowbrook received a letter of support from the David Suzuki Foundation. That letter, dated April 15, 2010, calls on Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay to act immediately to preserve the natural area: “We implore you to preserve all of Meadowbrook as a nature park in perpetuity for the benefit of all Montrealers and their descendents. Please do not permit its destruction for short-term private gain.”

We spoke to Cote St Luc councillor Dida Berku who was very critical of Lachine Mayor Claude Dauphin on this issue. She spoke not only of protecting trees, but also of proper planning and ensuring that houses are not built in dangerous places. The West End Times then contacted Dauphin who assured us that there have been no plans approved by Lachine to develop Meadowbrook, and that the land has been zoned residential since 1997.

More information available at www.sosmeadowbrook.org