A registry to oppose a development project in Westmount has not received the minimum number of signatures required to trigger a referendum.
A total of 122 signatures were needed on the registry, however only 77 people showed up to sign it.
“We are very unhappy that the registry was done during the construction holiday,” said Elizabeth Currie, who is leading the fight against the development project located at the corner of Claremont and Windsor avenues.
This is the group’s second attempt to stop the project. In January 2018, when the city first approved the developer’s proposal, 85 residents signed the registry — 37 signatures below the amount required to trigger a referendum.
The project proposes transforming an old building into high-end apartments.
“We’re not saying don’t develop it,” said Currie, arguing the project could cause more traffic and noise. “It clearly needs to be given some love, everyone said it, but it really needs to be done differently.”
The new development would include 20 luxury apartments with an underground parking garage for 43 cars. With the garage’s entrance across from a playground on Claremont Avenue, Currie worries it could be dangerous.
However, not everyone agrees.
“Twenty units on a daily basis is not generating a lot of traffic,” said Westmount commissioner of urban planning, permits and architecture Conrad Peart.
“It’s just too small of a project to have an outsized risk.”
The city confirms it approved an exemption for the developer, Forum, granting it the right to rebuild at the structure’s current height — even though that means it will be higher than the allowed zoning.
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The developer submitted a second proposal, however, saying the fifth floor was deteriorating so much it will have to be demolished and rebuilt. The city approved that proposal last month.
“It seems to be an even greater give from the city to this developer, with so much opposition from the community and so little give-back to the community,” Currie argued.
Frank Philpott, who lives nearby, has been against the project since Day 1.
“The building is already too big for the area so if they would just remove that top floor and maybe expand it a bit, we’d be much happier.”
The developer was not available for comment.
— With files from Global’s Shakti Langlois-Ortega