Royalmount project faces setback after Valérie Plante calls for revision

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante slammed the largest proposed real estate development on the Island of Montreal on Friday, saying “the Royalmount project has no social acceptability in its current form.”

The $2-billion Royalmount is slated to include a waterpark, cinema and about 6,000 residential units in the Town of Mount Royal (TMR).

However, Plante is now calling for a revision of the commercial-residential development after an agglomeration committee reached a similar conclusion Thursday night.

“This project was presented to us as a local project,” she said. “But its ambitions are regional and impacts are regional.”

“It’s a private project with major public impacts.”

The move could lead to a potential showdown between TMR and the centre city of Montreal.

The developer argues the prospective development has respected the laws, regulations and planning.

TMR Mayor Philippe Roy said he is open to meeting with Plante.

“Obviously some people are against the project,” he said.

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“At the end of the day it’s a private project, and at the end of the day it’s the consumers and visitors who will decide.”

In recent weeks, Royalmount has been criticized as having the potential to dramatically increase the number of cars on the city’s roads.

READ MORE: No major impact expected from mega Royalmount project on Montreal businesses

The proposed site is at the corner of two of the busiest highways — Highway 40 and the Décarie Expressway.

Summer Halstead, who works in TMR, is worried about the project.

“That’s what I love about being in Montreal — you have your little neighbourhoods and little stores,” he said. “I just don’t want to see it turn into this.”