PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Laval, July 27, 2020 – The Laval Regional Environmental Council (CRE), Laval and national organizations ask the City of Laval to maintain the current zoning of Gagnon Island in accordance with the revised land use and development plan (SADR), adopted by the City of Laval in August 2017 and by the government of Quebec in December 2017.
Indeed, while the first and second SADR planned to change the "urban" designation of Gagnon Island to a "protection" designation, in response to the citizens' desire to preserve the last natural environments of Laval , the City of Laval unfortunately made an about-face by making the decision without informing the community to maintain the “urban” designation of Île Gagnon. You will then understand the astonishment and dismay of the citizens and organizations who participated in the consultations on the first versions of the document and who only learned in recent weeks that not only had their wishes been ignored, but that they had also been hid the truth while damaging their trust in the municipality. However, despite this turnaround, the City of Laval remains bound by the other provisions of the SADR.
We would like to emphasize that despite its new "urban" designation, Gagnon Island is still included in a special ecological development zone (ZAEP) for which the city is committed to "creating living environments that promote good -being Laval residents and protecting biodiversity” and “limiting the felling of trees”. The city of Laval also undertakes to adopt regulatory urban planning tools including provisions aimed at protecting and enhancing the natural environment included within ZAEPs. These provisions also aim to allow the consideration and integration of natural environments in the development and qualitative evaluation of projects and to optimize citizen participation.
Furthermore, according to the SADR, the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles archipelago, which includes Gagnon Island, remains an integral part of the heritage sites of metropolitan interest. The city of Laval undertakes to adopt town planning regulations including standards guaranteeing that modifications made to existing buildings and the insertion of new buildings in these sectors are done in harmony with their heritage character in order, in particular, to ensure the protection of significant elements.
Although the City of Laval has modified the use of Île Gagnon, we ask it to respect the current SADR guidelines and to develop regulations resulting from these guidelines. This can only be very restrictive so that the economic aspect is not favored at the expense of social and environmental acceptability and that Laval truly applies the principles of sustainable development. This would truly respond to the slogan of the City of Laval URBAN IN NATURE.
- Water Interpretation Center, Denise Cloutier, General Director
- Saint-François Environmental Protection Committee, Lyne Moreau, President
- FTQ Metropolitan Montreal Regional Council, Vincent Leclair, Secretary General
- Éco-Nature, Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Isabelle Labarre, Director General – For the allocation of a protection assignment to Gagnon Island
- Fondation Rivières, Alain Saladzius, President
- Laval in transition, Alexandre Warnet and Geneviève Dagneau, Co-spokesperson
- Nature Québec, Alice-Anne Simard, General Director
- PlantAction, Enrico Asselin, President
- Let's save our three big islands, Huguette Larochelle, President
- Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Quebec section, Alain Branchaud, Director General
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For informations :
Guy Garand
The Laval Regional Environmental Council
450-664-3503
guy.garand@credelaval.qc.ca
