Building demolitions often create dramatic circumstances.
Domolition of buildings: Council has a month to decide
Demolition workers will have to put away their tools for the time being because Council members have not yet decided on the procedures for obtaining a demolition permit in Verdun. Moreover, specific requests for the demolition of buildings on de l'Église Street, as filed by a real estate developer, have not been accepted at the moment.
The special consultation meeting which was held an hour before the council’s regular meeting last Tuesday was intended to inform Verdun residents of a draft regulation on demolition which Verdun wants to implement. Urban planner Benoît Mallette and municipal councillor Alain Tassé introduced the general themes of the draft regulation. This new regulation should encourage recommendations from the Urban Consultation Committee to be followed by decisions by Borough Council. Until now, demolition requests have been refused or approved by Council members in accordance with good judgement and respect for existing laws. Aware of the powers that the Borough can exert in this particular matter, the Urban Planning Department was asked to prepare this draft.
The criteria are: the condition of the building (whether seriously dilapidated or not), the loss of the original architecture, if the condition of the building affects the quality of the neighbourhood, if renovation costs are excessive, if the planned utilization of the excavated soil will improve the premises, and if the building has several occupants. No serious prejudice must result from the demolition work. In the event occupants are evicted, the individual who files a request for demolition must provide housing for those evicted. Given the expertise of firemen and structural engineers, these criteria will not apply to fire fighting stations or to buildings with structural problems, as well as to gas stations.
The director of Verdun’s Citizens’ Action Committee, Chantal Lamarre, expressed reservations and mentioned the lack of consultation with residents affected by a demolition request. Mrs. Lamarre would prefer that affected residents be informed of these ongoing procedures when a demolition request is received and that they be heard by the Urban Consultation Committee and council. The suggestion did not seem unreasonable in Councillor Tassé’s opinion. It is however evident that the Council did not want to bypass Régie du Logement. In this context, Mayor Claude Trudel reminded the audience that the Council is not a tribunal that decides cases.
Not two, but three buildings
With respect to the demolition request for the neighbouring buildings near the CLSC, the request that appears in Article 40.19 of the agenda was withdrawn. No vote was therefore required for this request. It should be noted that two buildings were the subject of the request (the 366 to 376 and the 378 to 388). The developer’s request mentions in all his letters, a third building with civic address 392 to 396 on de l'Église Street. This building is the Viandal Butcher Shop that shares a wall with the CLSC.
Astonished by the moving testimonials of former residents or their representatives during question period, members of Council immediately had the request withdrawn from this Article. A tailor was forced to abandon his shop and was shocked when he noticed that the windows of his shop were barricaded even before he left the premises. Why were they in such a hurry to evict us when no demolition permit was issued and that the expansion of the CLSC would not be possible without tender offers? A representative of the PAL project (Alternative en santé mentale), Mr. Harvey explained that as a community worker, he observed the vulnerability of some very poor residents.
par Pierre Lussier 
Steven Guilbeault - Chronique environnement
Richard Cléroux - Le fouineur politique
