The Marchand administration will therefore not have to impose its vision by resorting to by-law 74.4, which makes it possible to impose a change in zoning for certain large projects with an area of more than 25,000 m² and to avoid a referendum.
The mayor and councilor of the sector, Claude Lavoie, did not hide their support for the YES camp, going so far as to suggest presenting a bigger project to circumvent the referendum in the event of a refusal.
In the neighborhood surrounding the Maria-Goretti project, 1,013 residents had the right to vote whether or not to pass the new development of 36 condos and 24 townhouses which would be added to the first phase built in 2012.
Only the 1013 citizens concerned had the right to express their opinion on Sunday. (Caroline Grégoire/The Sun)
The planned construction is located at 7245, avenue Paul-Comtois, at the corner of boulevard Cloutier and avenue Trudelle.
Nearly half of citizens exercised their right to vote (48%), with 305 votes for and 184 against.
When the results were announced on Sunday evening, Mayor Bruno Marchand was delighted to have won his bet in this long saga.
“Finally the status quo in the Maria-Goretti sector is over! Housing needs are acute and require rapid action. We can no longer wait almost 10 years like in this case before taking action,” he declared to Sun.
“This victory for the yes camp with 62% is good news. It also reminds us that we will have to continue to build the project with the citizens of the sector. We are moving towards a neighborhood that will meet increasingly varied needs,” the mayor continues in writing.
The saga has “lasted long enough”
Met on Sunday afternoon on the sidelines of the referendum, the spokesperson for the YES camp Richard Morin seemed satisfied with his campaign, although some “recalcitrants” were impossible to convince. “We would put anything there and they would say no,” he summarizes.
According to Mr. Morin, the nine-month negotiation between the City and the citizens really made it possible to improve the project and allow its approval.
Mr. Morin is spokesperson for the YES camp and has lived in the area for four years. (Caroline Grégoire/The Sun)
“I never realized that if someone had built six stories in front of my house I would have been furious. I understand the citizens. Maybe I would never have bought there if I had thought about that,” says the man who bought four years ago in phase 1 of Maria-Goretti.
Richard Morin especially feared that a refusal in the referendum would lead to the imposition of a bigger project by the Marchand administration, probably like many other YES supporters. “It helps that they said it openly. I think it has gone on long enough,” the spokesperson then declared.
Around 40% of the citizens concerned had already voted during the passage of the Sun around 4 p.m., despite Father’s Day and sunny Sunday.
The first phase of the Maria-Goretti project was built in 2012.
In December 2022, the City mandated Me Louis-Marie Vachon, lawyer, mediator and arbitrator for a conciliation and mediation process. It brought together the developer, citizen representatives and those of the co-owners of the first phase for nine months. But the number of signatures in the register was nevertheless sufficient to force the referendum to be held on Sunday.
