December 1, 2009 News

Grievances in Griffintown at new highway plan

Looming bulldozers bring back memories of failed redevelopment project

by Alan Macquarrie

The Bonaventure Expressway looms over a wasteland (left), where the city plans to build a new neighbourhood PHOTO ALAN MACQUARRIE

With last year’s ill-fated project to rebuild large swaths of Griffintown still a fresh memory, residents are concerned that a proposed $1.7 billion-dollar redevelopment of the Bonaventure Expressway might not be serving Montreal’s best interests.

“We’re all for bringing the Bonaventure down,” said Jeffrey Dungen, Griffintown resident and spokesperson for the Committee for the Sustainable Redevelopment of Griffintown. “But we want to make sure that what we’re getting from this project serves the people who live in the neighbourhood well, serves Montreal well and does so for a very long time.”

The project aims to tear down the elevated section of the Bonaventure highway between Wellington Street and Notre-Dame Street West and build 164,383 square metres of new residential, hotel and office space, according to the developer, the Société du havre de Montréal.

“We want to create a distinctive point of entry for the city of Montreal,” said Gaëtan Rainville, president of the SHM, the non-profit organization responsible for Montreal’s harbourfront. “We want it to be like a nice postcard.”

According to Rainville, the erection of multiple high-rises and the building of an urban boulevard would act as a new point of entry into downtown Montreal. The project would also remedy the wall-like division created by the deteriorating Bonaventure.

According to the SHM, the project would save the city $45 million due to lower maintenance on the expressway, which would justify its demolition.

Despite aiming for a LEED energy-efficient certification, coupled with plans to reduce traffic by 20 per cent on the expressway, the project faced public criticism on issues of social housing and heritage preservation issues when presented to citizens on Nov. 24.

While there is no concrete strategy for social housing, Rainville said the development is aiming for a mixture of people with different incomes.

“Thirty per cent of the housing units will be considered affordable housing and 15 per cent will be state-funded housing,” said Jean-Claude Cyr of the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal, the city of Montreal’s real-estate development arm.

However, Cyr admitted that while the goal has been set, it’s up to the developer to implement it.
Also criticized was the Agence métropolitaine de transport’s $120-million Dalhousie Street bus corridor project, which would require the expropriation of several buildings. The corridor would be a new terminus for buses to and from the South Shore. Dungen was among those who felt that the money would be better spent on developing a commuter light rail link instead.

“The buses have always been a temporary solution,” said Dungen. “I’m hoping that the Dalhousie [Street] corridor is the part that they’re willing to drop in order to look like they’re making a concession.”

The Office de consultation publique de Montréal is currently holding a series of public consultations in an effort to gauge the public’s reaction to the SHM’s plans.
“We didn’t have to do this, but we did it willingly,” concluded Rainville.