Pointe-Claire turns down approval for Brivia high-rise project

The city of Pointe-Claire upheld a recent decision by its demolition committee to not approve a high-rise complex slated for development on the former Mazda dealership site at 575 St-Jean Blvd.

The demolition committee approved the demolition of the former Mazda dealership site in April, but the committee did not approve the reutilization, or replacement, project.

The project developers, Groupe Brivia, appealed the demolition committee’s decision, but Pointe-Claire voted unanimously to refuse approval of the project at Tuesday’s council meeting.

The city said it had received 98 emails from citizens in support of its decision to refuse the high-rise project that would have added more than 200 residential units in a layout of buildings between 4 and 10 storeys.

A digital petition by citizens opposed to the project collected some 2,170 names, while a written petition had 355 signatures.

Critics of the Groupe Brivia project said it was much too large for a neighbourhood composed of mostly single-family dwellings and townhouses. They argued its construction would have a negative impact on the area, including increasing traffic congestion along local streets like Maywood Ave.

Nickie Fournier, a local resident who is part of an ad hoc group of citizens opposed to the project, said she was happy with the city’s verdict. She says the city finally realized it was “insane to put 225 units there.”

But Fournier is opposed to any future large-scale project in the area that would affect the quality of life of local residents.

“It’s not that we don’t want Pointe-Claire to grow, because it will happen. But do it in a fashion that is not destroying why people came to live in Pointe-Claire, why they chose here,” she said.

“Don’t build all these high-rises all over the place just because the REM (is coming). Is that a reason? Just because you can, you do. You overlook what people want.”

“This has been a trying file,” Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere said after council rendered its decision, “I think we’ve listened to citizens, we’ve heard the citizens. Unfortunately, we have to go through the process; we have to be careful with what we say because there are always sometimes recourses. But I think at the end of the day, the process worked.”

In April, city councillor Brent Cowan, head of the city’s three-person demolition committee, summarized three main points of contention to the project the city had received from citizens: “At 10 storeys it is claimed the project as submitted is too high. At over 200 units, too dense. And, finally, there will be more traffic than could be properly and safely absorbed by the local streets.”

“I find that the scale of the proposed project is too great to harmoniously integrate into the surrounding neighbourhood. Middle ground has not yet been found,” added Cowan.

Although citizens complained about the scale of the proposed project, Belvedere noted that zoning bylaws in effect when the project was first submitted allowed for such a large-scale development. “The zoning bylaw that was in effect when we received this request permitted the construction of a 10-storey residential building on this site.”

Belvedere said Pointe-Claire held a special city council meeting on Dec. 15, 2020, to unanimously adopt a proposed bylaw with a  “view of decreasing the scope of potential future construction on this site by reducing the maximum  height of the buildings from 10  to six storeys.”

The amendment to the zoning bylaw has been in effect since March 17, 2021, he noted.