Change of situation at the extraordinary local council meeting on Tuesday evening. Mayor Andrée Bouchard has removed the two ordinances on the pine forest on the island of Sainte-Thérèse from the agenda. “Citizens raised interesting points and we decided to go back to the drawing board,” she said at the opening of the meeting.

The comments in question were made the day before to the mayor and the director of the urban planning department of the city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Julie Lafrance, as part of a public consultation. Three regulations were up for debate. Two of them focused exclusively on the zoning and architectural design of the properties located in the pine forest.

The first draft Regulation No. 2240 aims to change the zoning in the pine forest in order to reduce the size of the main dwellings. The implantation area on the site located in the pine forest is twice as large as in the surrounding areas. To protect the pine trees that characterize this area, the city wants to reduce the footprint of the houses from 360 to 130 square meters. She also wants to add the pine forest as a forest area of ​​interest and amend the article of the zoning ordinance regarding the felling of trees in forest areas of interest.

Eight people

Only eight people attended the public consultation session. Three of them went to the microphone to ask the mayor questions. Despite the extremely sensitive issue of residential development in this sector of the island of Sainte-Thérèse, no representative of the SOS Boisé de la Pinède organization was present at the democratic exercise.

Citizen Luc Boisvert expressed concern about the lack of deterrent punishment for cutting down trees. With the passage of the new urban tree policy, that amount may have increased to $1,000, but “if we have the means to buy this land, it is clear that we also have the means to cut them down,” he says.

While the amount of fines is managed by the Development and Urban Planning ActHowever, Clerk Pierre Archambault mentions that the city may require financial guarantees for compliance with an implementation plan. This argument did not convince François Blais.

expectations

“I’ve been attending public meetings and consultations for ages, you’ve never asked for bail before,” he replied to the mayor. I would have expected a little more effort. If we add a shed and an in-ground pool and clear the trees around it, there won’t be much left in the end! »

Mr. Boisvert returned to the accusation when he presented statute 2241 on the architectural implementation. “We can’t stop talking about green houses. Where is the green? » he asks himself. For his part, Mr Blais regretted the fact that no census of the trees present in the area had been carried out.

“When I talked about green homes, I thought about controlling the footprint and cutting down trees as little as possible. “I realized that it wasn’t so clear,” said Andrée Bouchard, justifying the removal of the regulations from the agenda of the extraordinary meeting the next day. As far as the articles to be corrected are concerned, she remains evasive.

Ordinance 2241 was expected to be passed this week. The adoption of the second draft regulation 2240 was also initially on the agenda. The city planning office has three weeks to do its homework. The local council wants to present a new version at its meeting on October 24th. Time is of the essence as the reservation notice for the pine forest area has expired and the freezing effect of municipal regulations will not last forever.