West Island developers send legal notice to Plante administration over Great Western Park

A group of developers looking to build homes in the middle of a newly announced 3,000-hectare park in the West Island has sent Montreal Mayor Valrie Plante a legal notice giving the city two weeks to meet with them.

They say the administration, along with PierrefondsRoxboro borough Mayor Jim Beis, have acted in bad faith, and they want to be reimbursed for the investments they've made over 14 years.

They had planned to develop a 360-hectare stretch of land in western Pierrefonds into a new neighbourhood.

While some of that land is zoned as residential, Plante announced earlier this month that the city intends to use all of it for what's being called the Great Western Park.

A spokesperson for Plante's office said that they are currently reviewing the letter, and that the city intends to go ahead with the creation of the park as part of their plan to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity on the island of Montreal.

In their letter, the developers say they have presented the city with 22 versions of their Cap Nature Pierrefonds Ouest project, including setting aside half the land for conservation.

They are asking for a refund on the municipal taxes they have paid on the residential land now that the project appears it will never happen, in addition to compensation for "thousands of hours and millions of dollars" spent by the developers, plus damages.

They also argue that online posts made by Projet Montral are defamatory, including a 2015 blog post alleging that some of the land is linked to the Montreal Mafia.

The developers named in the letter are Dveloppements Pierrefonds Inc., Les Immeubles L'querre Inc. and Quartier de l'Ouest de l'le.

Opposition Ensemble Montral Leader Lionel Perez said the letter shows that the Plante administration likes to make big announcements with laudable goals, without sorting out the details first.

"The mayor last week was saying that this was a fait accompli," Perez said Tuesday.

"She has to do it in a way that respects rights, and respects the ability of the public to pay for such things."

Lack of consensus

In 2017, public consultations were held on the development of the land. The head of Montreal's office of public consultations, Dominique Ollivier, wrote in her final report that there was no public consensus overbuilding on the land, criticizing the lack of transparency about the development plans.

The developers say their own survey shows support for the project from residents of the borough, and that the city acted in "bad faith" by not submitting the Cap Nature plans to the public consultations.

Instead, the consultations were about residential development in the area in general.

Without roads or sewer systems serving the land, the city says that, as it stands, the land cannot be developed, even if it is zoned as residential.

The letter says that in a March 2019 meeting, Luc Ferrandez, then the executive committee member responsible for parks, said the city was counting on an announcement during the federal election campaign that Ottawa would give the city the money needed to buy the land.

But when Ferrandez resigned in May, the letter says communication with the city ceased.

The developers are now demanding a meeting with Plante and Beis by the end of next week.

If that does not happen, the letter says the developers will "act accordingly."