A family will have to leave the house they have lived in for 40 years in Rosemont because the Société de transport de Montréal will build a mechanical ventilation station there.
“Forcing us to leave is separating the family. I’m going to go to an apartment and my parents to an RPA, that doesn’t make sense,” says Trivi Ly.
The 48-year-old casino worker lives with his older sister and his 72-year-old and 73-year-old parents in a duplex the family purchased in 1983.
The family will have to leave by the end of January, so that the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) can build a mechanical ventilation station between Beaubien and Rosemont stations on the orange line.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CAROLINE GUINDON
The STM wants to replace the existing station, which is located a little further away, on rue Saint-Vallier, at the end of its useful life and poorly positioned in relation to the metro tunnel.
The work must begin in 2026 and last until 2030, we can read in the documents of a public consultation held in the district on November 12.
Barely $600,000
Mr. Ly claims to have been offered barely $600,000 for the duplex purchased by his parents. In the midst of the housing crisis, he cannot find the equivalent. “Even in Montreal North, there is nothing at this price,” he says.
Tristan Desjardins Drouin, Trivi Ly and Caroline Guindon presented to the municipal council to oppose the construction of an STM ventilation station in their neighborhood on November 18.
Photo Anouk Lebel
The project worries surrounding citizens, who presented themselves to the municipal council Monday evening.
“It’s a four-year project that will require a lot of trucking, blasting, noise,” worries Tristan Desjardins Drouin, who lives in this family sector.
It is difficult to explain why the STM invited citizens to a first public consultation last week when the decision was made by the transport company in 2021.
Other sites
“The STM presented us with four other sites on public land which do not require any expropriation,” he maintained.
The president of the STM board of directors, Éric Alan Caldwell, explained that the decision was taken at the end of a process of analysis of “different sites” with the borough.
«[ Les acquisitions ]it is done according to the rules of the art. The metro, when it was planned in the 1960s and 1970s, did not provide enough mechanical ventilation stations. For two decades, the STM has been catching up. We want to do it with the lowest possible impact,” he assured.
