Plans proposed to for large urban park near Montreal's Trudeau airport

Plans are underway to create a new urban park in the central-west part of the Island of Montreal.

Instead of it being a contiguous park, however, it could be areas of urban green space, much of which is near the Trudeau International Airport.

Dorval Mayor Marc Doret said the city and others jurisdictions are talking to the federal government about ways to preserve some of the green space, particularly in the area around the Montreal Technoparc in Saint-Laurent and the Dorval Golf Course.

"For me, and I think for the residents of Dorval, we'd like to see it for public use as a green space," said Doret. "Green space can also mean sporting activities, so it can be golf in the summertime, it can be walking trails, fat bike trails, or cross-country trails in the winter time."

A map of the proposed urban park in the west-central part of the Island of Montreal. SOURCE: City of Montreal

The federal government owns the golf course land, which is leased to the City of Dorval. At one point, a PPE factory was slated to be constructed there, but that project was cancelled.

Late last spring, the Montreal Airport was criticized when it moved a field containing multiple milkweed and other plants, which environmentalists say is an important space for Monarch butterfly spawning.

Dorval hopes that through the creation of the urban park, it can continue to run its golf course alongside adjacent green space, which will be a year-round park.