File Photo
	The site could be accessed via de Courcelle St./Glen Rd., a street without residences.

The borough of Côte-des-Neiges-NDG will be taking the exceptional step of calling upon the province to intervene in a dispute between neighbours.

A council motion passed on Dec. 6 asks the provincial government to pressure the City of Westmount to reconsider its refusal to permit access to the new McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) via de Courcelle St. and the emergency access road already in place.

“We will do everything in our power to make sure we get what we want,” said Mayor Michael Applebaum.

The motion introduced by the mayor calls for the irritants occasioned by the construction of the superhospital - noise, heavy truck traffic, parking problems, safety concerns - to be shared fairly by all.

Applebaum fears that Westmount’s protectionist and uncooperative position could lead to important delays in the MUHC project. He gave different examples of how far Westmount will go to keep noise and traffic down for its own residents while trying to “push all the impact and all the difficult situations onto NDG residents.”

He noted the many benefits of the project for Westmount: house prices will rise, residents will have easy access to hospital services and local businesses will flourish. But if Westmount can’t work with the MUHC, the City of Montreal and the borough to find a reasonable solution, he said, maybe the provincial government should decide that the land be ceded to the City of Montreal.

Applebaum noted that the provincial government could put through an order-in-council to ensure that the project goes forward in a timely manner and opens up on schedule.
Councillor Peter McQueen was an enthusiastic supporter of the motion. Following a recent access to information request, Projet Montreal learned at the end of November that all vehicles destined for the construction site would be travelling on three residential streets (Girouard, Prud’homme and Crowley). Predicting hellish traffic, the NDG councillor wants labourers to be able to access the work site in an efficient and safe manner, with the least possible impact for local residents.

Councillor Helen Fotopulos says that Westmount MNA Jacques Chagnon and Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne MNA Marguerite Blais need to be sensitized to the injustice that’s being done to NDG residents.

Councillor Marvin Rotrand said that the City of Westmount’s actions are selfish and not in the general public’s interest. It’s extremely rare for the government of Quebec to get involved in a dispute between two neighbours, he said, but municipalities have certain powers of annexation which could be looked at by the borough’s legal department as a last resort. He favours taking the matter to the Quebec Municipal Commission.

[Marie Cicchini]