Photo Marie Cicchini
	Many condominium buildings are going up in the developing sector of Namur-Jean-Talon. Demolition is underway at 4901 Jean Talon St. W.

Important construction projects over the next 25 years in Côte-des-Neiges-NDG will bring the borough’s population to 225,000 residents once work in the Namur-Jean-Talon (NJT) and Blue Bonnets area is completed.

It seemed as if Mayor Michael Applebaum set the tone for the borough council session where development and housing discussions dominated the meeting. Nominated at the end of January as the elected official responsible for city planning services, he explained why he thought that he was the right man for the job inherited from Projet Montreal leader Richard Bergeron. Applebaum laid out his vision of what lays ahead in terms of development for the borough.

A dozen people registered for question period, and since no controversial dossiers were discussed, the meeting wrapped up earlier than usual.

When the Queen Elizabeth Hospital closed a few years ago, the whole community mobilized to keep it open for anglophone residents. Enter the MUHC on the Glen site. Applebaum says it’s like a gift from the provincial government. All the money paid out for the MUHC permit will be invested in services, renovating parks and other things that improve the quality of life.

A land use plan will be carried out to develop the area around the hospital, including businesses, office spaces, and housing for MUHC commuters who may want to settle closer to work.

Council approved projects at 4901 Jean Talon St. W. and a cooperative building with 98 units at 8355 Labarre, which benefited from a 30% rate of inclusion rather than 15% as a result of a condo project built in NJT. The cost of land in NJT is so prohibitive that promoters have made financial contributions rather than provide 15% inclusion for social housing. Results to date still remain to be seen. Even if the provincial government were to provide financial aid to social housing, the AccesLogis program caps spending at $12,000 to $20,000 per unit.

The only problem is that low income people are kept waiting for social housing while people from outside are buying the condos in the area. Gentrification is a great cause of concern for Project Genesis, says community organizer Cathy Inouye.

The borough’s priority is to develop infrastructure to accommodate local shops and services while putting money aside to purchase land to build social housing in other sectors nearby, keeping an eye open for financially viable projects while staying within the limits of the number of housing units that can be built in Montreal in a single year. The Centre City is managing the social housing fund, totalling $350,000 from the first two projects. A lot of the housing and services provided in NJT will depend on types of usage soon to be defined for the Hippodrome development area.

Different firms will look at the viability of developing Blue Bonnets, the mayor explained. «Once we know what kind of infrastructure we have to put in and its cost, what type of housing, what type of usage, what type of densities and public transit, then we will know exactly where we are going with the hippodrome area and what could we do with NJT.»

Simion Matei, a resident of the NJT area, wanted to know, given all the growth in the sector, whether the borough will provide sports fields. Planning director Daniel Lafond said a design and architectural contest leading to a model project with green spaces is being carried out and the borough will come up with a vision that will be presented in six months.

The borough allocated $88,000 per year for three years from its surplus to pay for a city planning adviser position, to cope with a temporary work overload caused by the preparation and construction of major institutional projects.

[ Marie Cicchini ]