The new owners of the land on which the Fossambault-sur-le-lac beach is located want to turn it into a luxury housing development. The developer says the public must mourn and forget about public access to the beach and Lake Saint-Joseph. This access, one of the last public ones near Quebec City, must be protected and preserved.
Since 1955, the citizens of Quebec (the general public) have always had access to the large 500-metre sandy beach on the shores of Lac Saint-Joseph, even though the land is privately owned. Over the years, the various owners of the campground offered public access. A developer took over the land and aging facilities with the aim of building luxury condos near the shoreline. As a result, the beach, which had been public for over 70 years, became private and reserved for the new residents.
Public access under threat
The latest version of his project calls for the construction of 226 housing units and forces the closure of the Lac Saint-Joseph beach to private use, directly affecting citizens, who have the right to access the common good and heritage that is water.
The developer wishes to restrict access to the beach to the new owners and close it to the general public. The land purchased is located in a recreation and tourism zone. Normally, constructions carried out on this type of zoning should have the same vocation. The developer is therefore requesting that the status of the land and the Lac Saint-Joseph beach be changed to residential in order to initiate the work.
And if the zoning is changed, it's the final nail in the coffin. The developer is threatening to build a private campground, also with a private beach, if the municipality doesn't change the zoning to residential as requested. Building a high-density development on the lakefront would have a detrimental impact on Lake Saint-Joseph, as well as on the general well-being of the region's citizens.
No social acceptability
TheAssociation for the Protection of the Environment of Lake Saint-Joseph (APPELSJ) strongly opposes the project. In a survey conducted by SOM earlier this year, 87% of residents said they were opposed to the construction of housing on the site, and 81% were in favor of maintaining its public and recreational vocation. Yet the project, which will directly affect the citizens of the Quebec City region, is still on the table, while the municipality has yet to refuse the zoning change request. Even if the zoning change is not granted, the beach could be closed with the creation of a private campground.
The luxury real estate project and privatization of the beach would wipe out part of the history of the area, which has always had access to the land and river banks, and has done so for over 70 years. No one wantsaccess to water as a fundamental right is slipping quietly into privilege, to which not everyone has equal access.
Rethinking urban territory
The Lac St-Joseph beach, located half an hour from Quebec City and linked directly by a bicycle path, is one of the few remaining beaches open to the public on the lakefront. Because of its proximity to Quebec City, Fossambault-sur-le-lac needs a development model that meets the challenges of densification, while protecting public access to the beach and avoiding urban sprawl, which can create a discontinuity between the city's urban and rural areas.
The urban landscape also needs to be designed in such a way that citizens can enjoy waterways to the full, while respecting the environment. Water is a collective resource, but its banks are increasingly privatized. Fondation Rivières stresses the importance of developing this type of project intelligently, in areas on the outskirts of cities, to avoid privatizing riverbanks for the benefit of a developer.
Citizens of the Lac Saint-Joseph region have launched a petition on the Quebec National Assembly website to demand that the Quebec government acquire the site and that it be managed by the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SÉPAQ).
The municipality of Fossambault-sur-le-Lac has already held two consultation sessions, on October 3 and 15. This was an opportunity for the municipality's citizens to express their concerns to elected officials. Fondation Rivières hopes that these consultations will raise the promoter's awareness of the issues at stake, in addition to opening the way for reflection on the development of a sustainable model for urban development, without sprawl, given the proximity of Quebec City.