The fifteen municipalities on the Island of Montreal are buying a piece of undeveloped land in Beaconsfield for $14 million dollars.
The land is adjacent to Angell Woods, and they’re hoping the area will one day become a provincial or national park.
Mayor Valerie Plante says this is all about having a vision for protecting green spaces.
The newly purchased lot is thirteen hectares, and stretches between Highway 20 and Highway 40.
The adjacent area of Angell woods is already protected – and long has been considered a jewel on the island.
The Montreal Island Agglomeration Council plans to preserve the purchased land.
Beaconsfield could never have afforded to make the investment on its own, so now taxpayers are chipping in. The long-term plan is to build a bridge to the park, extending over Highway 40 for cyclists and pedestrians to access L’Anse a L’Orme nature park.
Plante and the Mayor of Beaconsfield say preserving the green space is important for now – and for the future.
“If we protect those green lands, how about we make it accessible to Montrealers, to visitors, to tourists,” she said. “I think it could be a great opportunity to have something even more special. You know in Montreal, saying you want to enjoy a national park – well, there’s one on the island.”
“Angell woods has a lot of wetlands, and wetlands are extremely important with the changes – climate changes – we’re no experiencing,” explained Georges Bourelle, Mayor of Beaconsfield. “If you’re going to have flooding, wetlands are extremely important to prevent flooding.
It’s a piece-by-piece approach to protecting the whole of Angell Woods – part of which is still tied up in a court case.
Developers have objected to a Beaconsfield bylaw prohibiting any building there, and that bylaw was upheld in Superior Court.
Developers are appealing the ruling, but the mayors say if their side ends up winning, they will start talks to acquire the land.
