There's renewed hope in the ongoing battle to save Dorval’s municipal golf course.
The land, which is adjacent to the airport, belongs to Aeroports de Montréal. For decades, the ADM leased the land to Dorval but that lease wasn't renewed this year.
The airport authority wants it for development, but locals have put up a fight.
“Definitely it’s the green space that we want to save,” said Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau.
The mayor says the ADM has promised to keep some of the land as a buffer between homes and the airport, but the group wants more than just some of the land.
According to the city, because the land is zoned as a green space, none of it should be developed. The ADM maintains the land is federal airport territory, which allows for airport development, and that Dorval can't declare it a green space because the land never belonged to it.
But the coalition says new evidence bolsters its case: a lease between Transport Canada and the ADM, stating that development is subject to environmental rules at all levels.
“They have to respect all zoning privileges, all zoning laws in the city of Dorval. They haven't done that, so that's why we've come to the forefront and said listen, you cannot do that, and you must stop everything you're trying to do,” said coalition member Bruce Orr.
It's now up to a Superior Court judge to decide the next steps after an injunction, filed last year, is heard in April.
