Montreal's Peel Basin redevelopment to include thousands of housing units
After years of debate, The City of Montreal unveiled on Wednesday its new plan for the Peel Basin, which includes thousands of new apartments and the possibility of another REM station.
Right now, the area on the banks of the Lachine Canal is mostly industrial or in disrepair. Housing groups say the redevelopment is badly needed.
"The need for social housing in Pointe-St-Charles is skyrocketing. We have more than 50 families per month that come here," said Francis Dolan, an organizer with Regroupment Information Logement in Pointe-St-Charles.
The future of the Bridge-Bonaventure district has long been debated and was once explored as a site for a baseball stadium.
Now, Montreal wants to move forward with a housing project with 7,600 units.
A rendering of Montreal's plan for the Bridge-Bonaventure sector (Source: CNW Group/City of Montreal - Office of the Mayor and the Executive Committee)
At least 1,100 units would be social housing and 1,100 would be affordable housing.
However, one city councillor says that's not enough.
"To make this neighbourhood truly affordable, I think we'd need to hit a target like 40 per cent social housing in just the Peel Basin sector. That would be like 2,000 social units in Peel Basin," said Southwest borough City Coun. Craig Sauvé.
The city also hopes to add another REM station in the development, despite having one in the works less than one kilometre away in Griffintown.
"We think it's necessary because transport is huge. We're going to be building a lot of housing, and we don't want to create a cul-de-sac where people cannot move around," said Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante.
A rendering of Montreal's plan for the Bridge-Bonaventure sector (Source: CNW Group/City of Montreal - Office of the Mayor and the Executive Committee)
But Sauvé says the city should be even more ambitious.
"The opportunity we have is to make Montreal's first car-free area. In fact, it would be Canada's first car-free area," he said.
Housing groups say it's frustrating to see vacant land combined with low vacancy rates for apartments.
"We see some families with three or four children living in a two-bedroom or one-bedroom sometimes. It's really getting impossible for families to stay in the neighbourhood now," said Dolan.
Consultations on the project are expected to start later this year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.