MONTREAL -- The Lachine Marina Association is taking the City of Montreal to court to try and postpone the city's decision to close the marina permanently and replace it with a public waterfront park.
The Association des Plaisanceiers du Port de Plaisance de Lachine (APPPL) announced in a news release Saturday that it has filed an injunction after the "surprise" July 8 City of Montreal announcement and "refusal of the latter (city) to negotiate in order to reach a compromise in order to reach and understanding and collaborate."
The APPPL calls the city's decision to close the marina "illegal, unjustified and hasty."
“Not only did the City of Montreal not obtain authorization from Transport Canada to dismantle the largest marina in Quebec - which has nearly 500 berths - in addition, boaters face a very short, unreasonable delay, while the Greater Montreal area is in short supply of berths," said APPPL president Josee Cote.
Lachine's borough Mayor Maja Vodanovic said of the plan that it's time "to give the waterfront back to the people."
She said the 2017 floods caused the marina to need millions of dollars worth of repairs.
"$16.5 million, which is about $20,000 per boat," she said in July.
The city's $25 million plan would transform the marina, accessible only to private boat owners, to a waterfront park for swimming, fishing, canoeing and kayaking.
The marina association release quotes Nautisme Quebec numbers that say the Lachine Marina has reduced motorboat berths on Lac Saint-Louis by around 46 per cent, and says that the City of Montreal numbers on the immense debt the marina causes are "baseless."
A petition to save the marina has garnered almost 15,000 signatures.
Lachine has a population of just under 45,000.
