While waiting for the REM, a future park takes on the appearance of a dump and an open-air dump

Griffintown residents are exasperated that the park they were promised a decade ago is taking on the appearance of a dump and open-air dump while waiting for the construction of a Réseau express métropolitain station.

“We are promised a park, but it looks like a dump,” criticizes Mary Ghanwa, who has lived on Ann Street, in this neighborhood in the southwest of Montreal, since 2012.

She is saddened to see the large vacant lot in front of her home abandoned and littered with waste such as old mattresses, alcohol bottles, cannabis containers, syringe wrappers and other debris.

“It’s been like this for three or four years. We don’t feel safe,” laments the retiree.

Since 2015

On this 8,325 square meter plot of land, the City of Montreal plans to develop Mary-Griffin Park, a green space that has been on the drawing board for a decade.

The City began the process of expropriating the land occupied by a commercial parking lot in 2015. It completed work on a retention basin in 2019.

According to neighbors, the land has been abandoned since that time.

“The grass is not cut. It’s total letting go. It’s not normal for a construction site to be left abandoned like that,” laments Guy Laperierre, who lives opposite.

From his balcony, he has a view of the mattresses and other trash lying around. He claims to have seen people there using drugs in broad daylight and to have called the police, who intervened for an overdose.

He believes that if the City is not able to make the park a reality, it should at least maintain the land.

Waiting for REM

The press secretary for the Plante administration, Simon Charron, referred us to the south-west borough for our interview request, which went unheeded.

“Mary-Griffin Park is still on the agenda,” assures Camille Bégin, City media relations, by email.

She emphasizes that the park land could be used for the construction of the future station, which explains that its construction schedule will have to align with that of the REM.

However, CDPQ Infra is no longer putting forward a schedule for the Griffintown-Bernard-Landry station, which will have to be built at the same time as the Bridge-Bonaventure station to limit the repercussions on the network.

“Discussions are underway with the government. An agreement must define the financing and construction parameters of the two stations,” indicates a spokesperson, Francis Labbé, by email.

CDPQ Infra previously mentioned that the Griffintown-Bernard-Landry station would be built by the time the network comes into full service in 2027.