PIERREFONDS-ROXBORO – Students from CEGEP Gérald Godin in Sainte-Geneviève have joined the chorus of West Islanders who are fighting to preserve L’Anse-à-l’Orme Park in Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
About two-dozen students picketed to save the green space as part of World Water Day, which aims to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocate for sustainable management across the world.
READ MORE: Environmentalists say developing L’Anse-à-Lorme forest threatens plants and wildlife
Last June, the City of Montreal announced its plan to develop 6,000 new housing units on 185 hectares of agricultural land and wetland meadows in the L’Anse-à-l’Orme corridor.
The group Sauvons l’Anse-à-l’Orme is fighting back, insisting up to 80 acres (that’s about 45 soccer fields) of Canadian wetlands are destroyed every day to make way for more buildings, roads and urban sprawl.
A petition is circulating to fend off plans to run an urban boulevard through the area and build hundreds of housing units.
A public consultation is scheduled for some time in the future.