The borough of Cote des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grace is doing what it can to encourage healthy living through a proposed bylaw limiting the availability of fast food.
The borough wants to prevent the construction of new fast food restaurants bordering major traffic arteries. Existing restaurants won't be affected.
Mayor Russell Copeman says they want to limit fast food to areas where there is a concentration of commercial activity and away from schools and residential areas. He says this is the first bill of its kind in Montreal.
The initiative is part of a plan to create a healthier borough and includes using zoning to incentivize people to bike, carpool or take public transit, encouraging car sharing and faciliating access to healthy food by promoting community gardens, farmer's markets and health food stores.
The bylaw will also double the number of biking parking spaces in any new construction project and limit the amount of car parking spaces within a 500-metre radius of metro stations.
The measures are expected to be implemented in the coming months.
