St.Peters Church and Fleming Park zoning changes largely approved

Attended by about 20 residents, several spoke largely in favour of the Fleming Park development on Brittany while nobody commented officially about the St. Peter’s project.

For the former, the sole strong objection came from long-time local eco-activist Judy Bock who didn’t question the need for a seniors’ residence, but expressed concern about the precedence of selling a green space with trees and the apparent rush to approve it.

“There’s no such thing as a useless park. Green spaces – large and small – are the lungs of the city.” Over the last 20 years, it would be “shocking,” she added, to find out how much public and private green space has been lost locally.

On the other side, MRMA president Lew Greenberg said the project “should be rushed through as fast as possible because there’s a great need for it in the Town” to help local seniors to remain here.

Others were more measured in their support, including local architect Stephen Eden who remarked that it’s always unfortunate to lose any park. “But if there’s any park that we have to give up, this would be the park.” The adjacent Jubien Park would actually be improved since the project would block the sound and pollution coming from the nearby autoroute.

MRMA executive Kathy Elie agreed, saying that Fleming Park may no longer be as needed as before with the larger Jubien Park just across the street.

Danielle Bellemare, a possible neighbour to the proposed project, expressed concern about the consequent loss of trees which clean up the nearby polluted air. Mayor Vera Danyluk replied that the Town can effectively add trees between the two buildings while preserving about half of the 24 trees with the servitude agreement on the west side of Fleming Park.

With more tree-planting funds in the 2007 budget, about a dozen trees can be added to Jubien Park to make it more attractive and welcoming for users, she added.

Concerning the business side of the project, Danyluk said they will first put out a call for proposals, not for tenders, once Council approves it. Whether it will be a private developer or a non-profit organization, “we want to assure that the submitted proposals can respond to the most important needs of the municipality,” referring to a growing population of people over 60 who need some specialized services.

On the whole, the Fleming Park decision was “very difficult,” the mayor said. It’s a “great loss” to lose green space or a park, but Council also has to think much more about local seniors’ quality of life. The Town has also bought up small pieces of land, such as the lot on Rockland and Jean Talon turned into the park in the mid-1980s, and has just made an offer on the former service-station land on St-Clare and Jean Talon.

Repairs to the foundation and replacement windows for the hall alone would cost at least $200,000 – “which we simply do not have.” Demolition would cost about $40,000 while another $100,000 would have to be spent on reconstruction on exterior stonework for the rest of the building.

Afterwards, William Tetley, a church warden, said their only option is to sell the hall and the land on its west side and use the funds to repair the rest of the church. The Town requires any prospective buyer to preserve the hall’s stonework and use it for any new residence there, he added.

Several nearby residents said they are pleased to see the property become residential rather than commercial, Barrigar commented. Speaking personally, Elie said it would be an “excellent idea” to make the necessary repairs since many aging churches face the same structural problems and bring some revenue to the church.