A new housing project for Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue is coming under fire.
Several residents living in the area north of Chemin-Ste-Marie oppose the city’s plans to allow a 400-unit residential project to be built.
The residents don’t want the rural, undevelope
d area to be touched. Forty-three hectares, or the equivalent of 80 football fields, could be developed if the city’s plans are approved.
“I might as well move out and go find a country home somewhere,” Peter Partridge, a long-time Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue resident, said.
His house sits very close to where the new housing project is being proposed.
“I thought it was really great when I moved here in 1980,” Partridge said. “There was a few homes. I mean, there was hardly anybody here and it was great.”
Another resident, Kiara Pollice, also opposes the project.
The CEGEP student grew up in the neighbourhood. She argues there has already been enough development in the area, adding more will spoil the rural-like landscape and kill the remaining wildlife.
“There were so many animals here,” Pollice said. “There were even coyotes and now you don’t see them anymore. You don’t see the deer anymore.
“So I think we’ve already caused a lot of damage here. We should stop it now.”
But that’s not the city’s intent.
Coun. Ryan Young insists a new urban plan with new development is required. And this parcel of land is the only place left where Ste-Anne’s can build.
“There are people who would say, ‘we want it to be all green’ but that’s just not possible without the province stepping in and expropriating the land or something like that,” Young told Global News.
City council plans to vote on the project next year; the groundbreaking could occur shortly after.
Still, some residents promise to continue the fight.