ILE-PERROT — Backhoe tractors, chainsaws and tree cutters have descended on a wooded area in Ile-Perrot.
The clear cutting is well underway to extend du Boisé street but many residents in the neighborhood are outraged.
“It’s a pretty devastating feeling,” Cathy Vincent said.
The home owner lives only a few doors down from the wooded area and fears her quality of life will be forever ruined once the new road is complete.
Vincent moved onto du Boisé Street in 2001 for its tranquility.
The road is a cul-de-sac leading to the forest.
110 meters of woods separate it from the other end, where it links up with Parc Avenue.
“I know it’s just a road, some people say it’s just a road Cathy, it’s going through whether you like it or not and that’s basically what we were told at council meetings but still the reality of it hurts,” she said as she watched tree after tree fall.
The city insists it is listening to the residents.
City Manager André Morin says completing the road won’t bring an excessive amount of unwanted traffic through their neighborhoods and he says the project has been in the works for 15 years.
“We’ve re-assured the residents,” he said.
Morin adds that some people will benefit from a new road as it will ease congestion on nearby Perrot Boulevard.
But many residents fear completing du Boisé street is just part of a larger master plan for the city.
Most of the forest is owned by a real estate developer and is zoned residential.
“At one point you got to stop building. It’s not all about bringing in more money and tax,” Michael Lanigan said.
The backyard of his house stretches to the forest and he could soon have some unwanted neighbors if the wooded area is developed for new housing.
The city manager insists that’s a real possibility.
“There will be construction on that land at some point. It’s certain,” Morin said.
Residents vow to continue their fight to save the remainder of their beloved forest.
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