Pointe-Claire city councillors voted to remove Cadillac Fairview from the city’s development freeze on Tuesday evening. An un-official town hall meeting was held Saturday at the Arthur Séguin Chalet, for residents to voice their opinions.
“We have to balance progress and preservations,” said Pointe-Claire city councillor for district seven Eric Stork. “We will do what we need to do to protect our city. There’s no question about that.”
Stork and city councilors Brent Cowan and Tara Stainforth met with about 50 residents to discuss Pointe Claire’s interim control bylaw putting a temporary freeze on development. And more specifically, they met about the Cadillac Fairview project to transform 900 parking spots into two residential apartment buildings with green space.
The district seven city councillor wants to reiterate that modifications are still possible.
“Everything is on the table…to open up discussion and to get to something that the citizens, the administration and Cadillac Fairview can live with,” he told Global News.
Cadillac Fairview did not reply to our interview request by deadline.
Pointe-Claire resident Nickie Fournier said she’s worried the project is happening too fast and if things don’t slow down the garden city will become the downtown of the West Island.
“I’m not against the project. I would like to see how the REM will function first before any other decision was made there, because that’s a big change coming to the West Island,” she said.
Whereas other residents said the development is important, for a city they claim needs to grow.
“Can we work with them to maybe make it better for the area? Yeah, but it’s a parking lot right now. So why can’t we put a nice development next to mass transit and help the environment a little bit?,” said resident Gregory Frechette.
Long-time resident Anne McMahon said she enjoys the sense of community in Pointe-Claire, “but it’s not 1950 anymore. Personally, I would like to be able to downsize. But you can’t downsize because there’s no place to go,” she said.
Consultations about the Cadillac Fairview project are ongoing. City councillors will hold a final vote on the interim control bylaw at the next city council meeting May 3.