Martin C. Barry

The future of the Rosemère Golf Club and the pending redevelopment of the Place Rosemère shopping mall were among the issues raised by residents during public consultations held by town officials Feb. 19 and 22 on Rosemère’s future urban planning orientations.
In the spring of 2018, Rosemère town councillors, working with residents, drafted a vision for the future development of the town.
Rosemère’s identity
Through the process, they were able to identify factors that could help in developing a new urbanistic vision for Rosemère, while still managing to preserve the North Shore town’s identity.
The latest consultations were part of a second and final phase of the process, before the councillors and urban planning staff draft a new urban development master plan to guide development in Rosemère over the next decade.
According to basic and virtually unchanging tenets of Rosemère’s current urban planning vision, the hub of the town remains the “village” core along Grande Côte Rd. (where the library, municipal pool and other facilities are located across the street from the Metro supermarket and mall).

Widely varying opinions

In the meantime, the sprawling Rosemère Golf Club grounds and Place Rosemère along Labelle Blvd. are regarded as a regional hub. “We’re trying to get a feeling from the population as to how they feel about all these things,” Mayor Eric Westram said in an interview Feb. 22 with the North Shore News, noting that the variance in opinions in some cases is quite wide and may need reconciling.
“Everything that is going to come out of last Wednesday’s consultation and today’s, plus the two previous consultations and the two focus groups, will be letting us know where the population is at on all the issues so that we can find a consensus. We’ve always said that we wanted to keep Rosemère as green as possible.”

Place Rosemère’s future

As town councillor Philip Panet-Raymond reflected, not everything is within the control of town officials. “The future of the shopping mall to some extent is in the hands of the owners,” he said during the consultations, held at the Externat Sacré-Cœur school.
According to Panet-Raymond, Rosemère officials are currently waiting for a proposal to be made by the mall’s owners (Toronto-based Morguard) to partly modify the mall’s vocation to something that could integrate a new concept into the current all-retail configuration.
“Retailing has changed over the past 10-20 years,” he said. “It’s had an impact on that mall and its ability to maintain its value. That mall was reassessed in terms of value and it’s gone down a little bit, which in turn has an impact on the taxation generated.

Town open to changes

“We were encouraging the mall ownership to come back to us with a plan that updates and modernizes it, and that would also allow us to, you know, potentially put some rental residential in there,” said Panet-Raymond.
“We’re open to upgrading that mall. And they’ll do their homework in terms of what works and what doesn’t. They’ll do demographic studies to determine what should be there and what will be profitable.
“Because obviously if businesses at the mall are working and are profitable, we’re happy. Because then the tax base for us goes up and allows to do more with that tax revenue towards improving the lives of our residents.”

Golf course’s future

As for the Rosemère Golf Club, whose future as a golf course looks dim given the dismal state of golfing as a sport, Councillor Panet-Raymond said the town has been in discussions with the owner, a developer who would eventually like to build housing on at least part of the large property.
“We have received no plans as yet from them,” he said. “But we are consulting the population for purposes of getting some ideas for our own plans.” He said the town is currently following a guideline that sets a 50 per cent threshold, meaning that at least that much green space would be conserved if there were to be redevelopment.

Martin C .Barry

Courageous and hardy were the more than 1,000 Rosemère residents, along with their elected municipal representatives, who braved the cold on Saturday Feb. 8 in Charbonneau Park, a few days after a major winter storm, to take part in the town’s annual Winter Carnival.
There was a full range of activities that included sleigh rides, inflatable games, snow sculptures and more. Rosemèrites came to enjoy the famous taffy on snow, while keeping toasty warm next to woodburning fire pits.

Snow lovers’ paradise

Some also brought their sleds and skates to take advantage of the giant slide and an outdoor rink on site. As well, the 49th Lorraine-Rosemère scout troop was on hand to offer participants refreshments.
“What more could we ask for than fresh snow,” said Mayor Eric Westram, noting that the weather is almost always very cold for the Winter Carnival, even though there have been years when it was just the opposite and rain came down in buckets.
“This is always a great opportunity to get out, to do a bit of exercise, to get some fresh air and enjoy some hot chocolate and maple candy,” Westram said.

Promoting Voilà Rosemère

He said the councillors came out to meet the community, but also to spread the word about the Town of Rosemère’s new digital platform Voilà Rosemère. Compatible with mobile devices and web browsers, the secure, user-friendly app lets residents access a wide range of important civic information all in one place.
An introductory training session on the Voilà! Rosemère app will be held during the Saturday March 14 Mayor’s Breakfast for anyone who could not make it to the carnival. Alternatively, residents can call the town at 450 621 3500, extension 1219, or write to communications@ville.rosemere.qc.ca if they have any questions about the new platform.

Martin C. Barry

The Feb. 10 sitting of Rosemère town council saw the return of two town residents who repeated some allegations they previously made about a wetland located in Blainville they claim is endangered.

Problem not in Rosemère

It was not first time Benoit Beauchamp and Anick Plouffe of Grande Côte Rd. appealed to Rosemère mayor Eric Westram to intervene, although the mayor reminded them, as he had previously, that the matter doesn’t concern Rosemère since the wetland in question is located in Blainville.
“There seem to be people who want to destroy that wetland,” said Beauchamp, noting that the wetland in question, which is located above a former dumping site, acts as a natural filter that benefits surrounding communities such as Rosemère, but that it is under threat because of landfilling he alleges is still taking place.

Federal and provincial

“The land you’re talking about is not on Rosemère’s territory,” said Westram, adding that he had previously counselled Beauchamp to get assistance on the matter from officials at higher levels of government such as the federal and provincial.
The mayor dismissed Beauchamp’s claims that the fate of the Blainville wetland could cause springtime flooding to be more extreme in Rosemère. The problem appears to be that as a former dump, the site’s eligibility for ecological protection isn’t clear under regulations of the Quebec Environment Ministry.

Has been to court

The status and use of the site, which is owned by a Blainville streetcleaning business, has also been the subject of court cases brought forward by Beauchamp and which got as far as the Supreme Court of Canada in recent years.
“I can take you on your word, but I cannot allow myself to say that my citizens could be in danger because of landfilling,” added the mayor.
During the regular business portion of the agenda, town council tabled a notice of motion of its intention to pass a $907,000 loan by-law probably next month to pay for the upgrade and repair of the bicycle path north of Autoroute 640, while also repairing part of the Bouthillier footbridge.

Recycling questions

Also during question period, longtime Rosemère resident Wendy Gurd questioned the mayor over the state of the town’s recycling services, given the negative news that has surfaced about the City of Montreal’s failing recycling system.
She wondered particularly about recyclables such as glass being broken in recycling bins and contaminating other recyclables. Mayor Westram pointed out that unlike many other recycling materials sorting centres, Rosemère and other members of the MRC do business with Tricentris which, he said, has specific contracts for recycled glass.

Under control, says mayor

“Unlike other triage centres, which unfortunately are undergoing certain difficulties, we are involved with a pilot project through which we will be able to maybe find solutions do deal with these types of problems,” he continued.
According to Councillor René Villeneuve, the provincial government’s new bottle and glass container policy should cover the situation in the next two years.
“In the meantime, they’re going to make a type of depot in different municipalities as pilot projects. For that matter, Rosemère will be offering to implement a small depot for deposit-refundable glass containers such as wine bottles.”

Martin C. Barry

A tree clearcutting op conducted in the City of Deux-Montagnes for the construction of an overpass along du Lac Boulevard by REM train line builder CDPQ Infra left Mayor Denis Martin with no choice but to explain during the February city council that Deux-Montagnes has no control over what the developer does here.

No permit needed

As the mayor explained during the sparsely-attended Feb. 13 meeting, Deux-Montagnes and other municipalities located along the REM line lost all rights to enforce local by-laws for offenses such as illegal tree cutting when the Quebec government passed a decree several years back granting CDPQ Infra legal immunity while it builds the REM.
“The City of Deux-Montagnes was informed of this cut,” said the mayor. “The REM has no need to ask permission nor any need for a permit from the City of Deux-Montagnes. Law 137 excuses them.” In all, a total of 78 trees were cut in the vicinity of the future Grand-Moulin REM station.

Trees ‘in conflict’ with REM

In a letter to the City of Deux-Montagnes, a representative of the REM developer said the trees to be cut “were in conflict” with future structures to be used in conjunction with the station and the REM train line.
“I would like to assure you that our team is careful to make clear to citizens that the REM is not subject to municipal regulations and that permits are deposited with cities for informational purposes only,” a REM official said in a statement read out by Mayor Martin.
“Perhaps this message is misunderstood by citizens who think that cities must authorize permits or can object. We wish to assure you that we are also clarifying things on this point.”

Boisé-Roger-Lemoine

As a consequence of all this, CDPQ Infra has agreed to hold a meeting with residents on Feb. 24, where the company pledges to improve communications. In the meantime, according to the mayor, some major work on REM development in Deux-Montagnes will only be taking place around the main Deux-Montagnes REM station on Deux-Montagnes Blvd. in 2021 at the earliest.
All the same, the mayor said the city remains particularly concerned about the work to be done there, as it will take place near the Réserve naturelle du Boisé-Roger-Lemoine.

‘Few if any powers’

“We are little bit skeptical as to how they are going to be able to work around that area,” said the mayor, adding that the city will be seeking explanations to this during the Feb. 24 meeting. “And again, we may have few if any powers, but we have to speak with them so that they come to understand our territory.”
In other developments during the meeting, a notice of motion was tabled indicating that council intends to modify the by-law governing remuneration of the elected officials so that the mayor’s salary increases to $83,000 per year (from the current $74,000 that he’s paid).

New hire at Public Works

With the workload apparently increasing at the city’s public works director, council formalized the hiring of a new associate-director at public works to assist current director Jean. B. Fayomi.
The new hire’s name is Gabriel Persechino. As per the standard municipal hiring practices, he is on probation for the next six months until council confirms the hiring as permanent.
During question period, Troy Ewenson, formerly of the Deux-Montagnes Softball Association, got up to the microphone to challenge the city’s decision to implement steep increases to user fees for softball players who are non-residents. Under the new structure, $100 is added to the $50 fee for non-residents for the 2020 softball season.

Non-resident ball fees rise

The mayor explained that some neighbouring municipalities such as Saint-Eustache have been charging at least $125 fee to Deux-Montagnes residents to play in Saint-Eustache. As well, he said Saint-Eustache levies many other fees to non-residents for use of their facilities. He said a similar system is in place in the municipalities of Pointe-Calumet, Saint-Joseph and others.
Ewenson replied, “You’re asking a kid that was paying $50 to play $150 to play softball? And they’re not playing $150 to play softball, they’re paying $50 and then going to hand over a cheque to the city for $50. That doesn’t make any sense at all, sir. This is not reasonable.”