A quiet residential community has become the hotbed of spirited debate over a controversial residential project.
Several residents living near an old, dilapidated strip mall on Walton Avenue in Pointe-Claire are fighting a proposed housing project.
They complain that the developer’s plan to build 20 townhouses where the commercial building and parking lot stand doesn’t fit the neighbourhood.
“Put something proper like single-family homes in that area,” Genny Gomes, a Pointe-Claire resident told Global News.
Gomes has started a GoFundMe online campaign looking to raise money to mount a legal challenge to the project.
“I personally don’t believe that the city is following or adhering to all of its bylaws,” Gomes said.
Gomes fears the traffic in the area will dramatically increase with the proposed underground parking for the homeowners.
And she says townhouses don’t fit the urban landscape of the community.
“If you look at townhouse projects, they are not in the middle of a single-family detached home area,” she said.
Gomes isn’t alone.
Kathy Gelinas has lived in the area for 36 years.
She fears the additional traffic the proposed project could bring is too much for the local roads.
“When you’re talking 20 units, that’s a lot more traffic. There’s going to be an accident,” she said.
Gelinas doesn’t mind attached homes but not to the scale proposed by the developer David Owen, president of Moldev.
No one from Moldev returned calls made by Global News for comment.
WATCH: Future of Pointe-Claire’s Walton Avenue still up in the air (July 2018)
On Jan. 31, the Pointe-Claire demolition committee narrowly approved demolishing the existing building in a 2-1 vote.
Residents have until the end of February to appeal the decision.
The final say could be left to council.
The area has been zoned residential for several years and Mayor John Belvedere says the developer has respected all the zoning laws which permit 20 to 24 townhouse units.
“It’s a great community area and I think that it will be good for the area. It will be fine,” Belvedere told Global News.
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