Anse--l'Orme conservation group blocks road of new housing development

Inspired by Mayor Denis Coderre'sjackhammer-versus-mailbox incident, residents and activists inPierrefonds raised theirpickaxes and jackhammers in protest againsta planned housing development.

The groupSauvonsl'Anse--l'Ormeclaims a roadin thel'Anse--l'Ormenature parkis illegal and they want the city to halt any further development.

"We're following mayor [Denis] Coderre's symbolic action of taking a jackhammer to mailboxes and doing the same thing to the road here," saidDonald Hobus, a member ofSauvonsl'Anse--l'Orme.

"It's symbolic. We're not doing any damage but we're saying this road is illegal, we want it removed and want the whole area protected."

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The planned 185-hectare development would erect 5,000 new housing units.

The group has collected more than 6,000 signatures for a petition to stop the project, and this week it filed a second injunction against the developer.

It plans to present the petition to Coderre and thePierrefonds-Roxboro borough mayor DimitriosBeis next month.