Westmount qualifies for exemption from high-density development requirements, former mayors say

Montreal Gazette

4 days ago

Montreal Politics
By
Westmount Mayor Christina Smith says the municipality is open to tweaking its controversial redevelopment plan for its southeast sector, bordering downtown Montreal, before it goes to a vote in September, but critics are demanding that she invoke Westmount's designation as an exceptional heritage sector to prevent highrise development.
'We're probably going to see some slight modifications, for sure,' Smith told The Gazette last week.
She was referring to continued opposition from residents to a proposed seven- to 12-storey development on Dorchester Blvd., across from Victorian row houses that are characteristic of Westmount, and to a proposed row of four 20-storey towers on Ste-Catherine St. W., just west of Atwater Ave.
'We heard a lot of feedback ... so we're continuing to debate that,' she said.
One idea came from a resident at a public meeting on the plan in June, Smith said. Jonathan Wener, founder and chairman of real-estate company Canderel, told the meeting that four 20-storey highrises on Ste-Catherine is 'too much mass' and suggested two 25- to 30-storey highrises instead.
'That may not even be feasible, but that's something that some people are now asking for,' Smith said.
'Where I don't think we need to go is there's a call to scrap it all together and let the next council deal with that.'
However, former Westmount mayors Peter Trent and Karin Marks are asking why Westmount hasn't invoked its designation as an exceptional heritage sector to get an exemption from higher building-density requirements that are to be introduced next year by the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) and that Smith has cited as the impetus for Westmount to include several highrise towers in the southeast sector plan.
'Westmount's heritage designation clearly allows it to claim an exemption from density thresholds,' Trent and Marks conclude in a July 20 letter to the members of Westmount city council that was copied to The Gazette.
'You now have the obligation to correct the serious misinformation that was given to citizens.'
The former mayors oppose the redevelopment proposal for the southeast sector, produced for the municipality by architecture firm Lemay, saying in their letter that the heights being proposed for Ste-Catherine, in particular, will 'result in a cheek-by-jowl series of highrise towers like the Square Children's (at Atwater Ave. and René-Lévesque Blvd.); a form, with the exception of the short-lived 1960s highrise delirium, that is antithetical to Westmount's built heritage.'
Marks and Trent contend that Smith, the civil service and the Lemay firm misinformed the public by stating that Westmount is obliged to respect a new minimum density of 480 dwellings per hectare that's in the CMM's new 2026-2046 metropolitan land-use plan, and by omitting to mention the exemption available to Westmount.
Smith has publicly said that Westmount must respect the density requirement in the CMM plan, adopted on June 9, for 'hypercentre' transit-oriented development zones, such as the Atwater métro area.
But Trent and Marks point out that the new and old CMM land-use plans allow exemptions from its density requirements under special circumstances. The circumstances include 'the need to protect sectors with heritage components of interest where densification could compromise cultural, historical or natural values,' the new CMM plan states.
The Montreal agglomeration council, which includes the City of Montreal and all island suburbs, would have to request the exemption on behalf of Westmount. However, the CMM delegates responsibility to the agglomeration to identify heritage sectors requiring protection on the island, Trent notes. And the agglomeration's land-use plan designates Westmount's entire southeast sector — and almost all of the municipality, for that matter — as a 'sector of exceptional heritage.'
The agglomeration land-use plan also provides for exemptions from minimum density requirements, including for 'an area of exceptional value, or an area of significant value' as indicated on the plan's heritage map. The map is where Westmount is categorized as 'exceptional heritage.'
However, Smith maintains that Westmount is obliged to respect the CMM's density requirements and has a legal opinion from an urban-planning lawyer to back that up.
'We did our homework,' she said.
'We can't opt out. I'm disagreeing with his (Trent's) notion that we have no obligation to do this. We have checked with the CMM, we've checked with the (agglomeration), I've called in outside legal counsel. ... We've asked every which way on this.'
Smith suggested that other legal protections exist for historic properties in Westmount's southeast sector, including provincial heritage protection for the Congrégation-de-Notre-Dame motherhouse now occupied by Dawson College. A Westmount bylaw on site planning and architectural integration requires council approval for projects that affect the exterior of properties, she added.
The CMM exemption clause is applicable to densification that could compromise cultural, historical and natural values, Smith said.
'At this point, no one could claim that what we are doing in the southeast would be compromising historical values.'
However, Trent disagrees with Smith's interpretation.
'The argument fails the minute you open up the agglomeration (land-use plan),' he said. 'The fact that individual buildings are protected (by additional laws and bylaws) is irrelevant.'
Westmount plans to adopt the southeast sector plan and a bylaw amending its master plan to accommodate it at its last council meeting on Sept. 8.
Trent, Marks and other critics of Westmount's southeast sector redevelopment proposal have argued that Westmount council should postpone its vote until after the municipal election on Nov. 2.
However, whether the plan is approved before or after the election may be up to the Montreal administration of Mayor Valérie Plante.
That's because the agglomeration, where Montreal has a majority, must approve changes to the master plan of any municipality on the island to ensure they comply with the agglomeration's land-use plan, Montreal spokesperson Gonzalo Nunez said.
The agglomeration council delegated power to the Montreal city executive committee to issue 'certificates of conformity' for master plan changes, he said.
The Montreal executive committee will continue to meet weekly into October, he added.
'It is impossible to specify when the executive committee will rule on the compliance of the city of Westmount's bylaw,' Nunez said.
'The deadline will depend on the date on which the adopted bylaw is submitted to the agglomeration. The file will then be submitted to the executive committee for approval or disapproval of the bylaw, within a maximum of 120 days.'
This story was originally published