Parc de 153 ha dans Villeray

[jerry]

'Iconic' park will rise from former St-Michel dump

 

Kevin Mio, Montreal Gazette

More from Kevin Mio, Montreal Gazette

 

Published on: August 28, 2015 | Last Updated: August 28, 2015 3:32 PM EDT

 

What was once a quarry and garbage dump that has marred the city’s St-Michel district for decades will soon become one of Montreal’s — if not the world’s — most iconic parks, Mayor Denis Coderre said on Friday.

 

The St-Michel Environmental Complex will be transformed into the city’s second-largest park, behind Mount Royal, beginning with several new sections that are to be opened to the public for the first time in 2017, in time for the city’s 375th birthday. The whole project is slated to be completed by 2023, Coderre said.

 

“New York has its Central Park, Paris has its Luxembourg Gardens, London has its Hyde Park. If it is true that the major cities of the world can be recognized by their legendary green spaces, Montreal has certainly not been left out,” the mayor said as he made the announcement standing in front of what will become a 12.5 hectare wooded area and lookout in a few years.

 

“We already have Mount Royal Park, our largest park, and in a few years we will soon have another equally iconic (park) right here,” he said.

 

“This transformation represents one of the most ambitious environmental rehabilitation projects ever undertaken in an urban environment in North America,” Coderre said. “We are building a park out of a site that contains 40 million tonnes of garbage.”

 

The cost of this phase of the project is $33.7 million, which the city is paying for from its capital works budget. The final price tag for the remainder of the work is not known. However, Coderre said whatever money is needed will be made available to complete the project.

 

Once finished, the park will include thousands of trees, a lake, wooded areas, pathways, rest spots, an outdoor theatre and more.

 

Anie Samson, the mayor of the Villeray — Saint-Michel — Park Extension borough and member of the executive committee, said the transformation shows that the impossible is possible.

 

“Today is a big day for us and it is one more step forward toward the realization of our dreams (for St-Michel),” she said. “For the past 20 or 30 years, (residents) had a dump over there. Now it is going to be one of the biggest and nicest parks in the world,” Samson said.

 

By 2017, just over 17 hectares of park space will be open to the public. In all, the park will occupy 153 hectares of the 192-hectare site.

 

“A lot of people are talking about sustainable development, but what does it mean? I think we have a living proof here,” Coderre said. “We are providing today a new definition of how to revitalize an area. Frankly, at the end of the day … a lot of people are inspired by other cities. Trust me, this one will be an inspiration for the rest of the world.”

 

Journalists were given a bus tour of the site Friday morning, which included a drive into the lowest point of the former quarry, which will eventually become the lake. It will be five times as big as Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.

 

The lake will be filled with run-off water from the park and will be treated to make it safe to be used for boating and kayaking, but not for swimming.

 

The second major project is a new entrance way to the park along Papineau Ave. that will include, among other things, a sliding area for winter activities, public spaces and areas where people can rest or play outdoor games such as Frisbee or flying kites.

 

Two other sections already opened to the public will be reconfigured and new entrances constructed.

 

There is already a pathway that rings the entire complex, but this is the first time the public will be allowed onto the landfill site.

 

But how they will get to the park, near the corner of Papineau Ave. and Jarry St., is another question since public transit to the area is far from ideal. Coderre said they are working on a plan to address that issue.

 

“We can have the nicest park, but it has to be accessible,” Coderre said. “We want Montrealers to be able to take advantage of the park so there will be an action plan for public transit, a mobility plan.”

 

One challenge city officials face is how to camouflage the more than 500 wells that dot the site. They serve as monitoring stations for the biogas which is emitted by the buried garbage and the city must find a way to hide them while still allowing them to be accessible to workers for repairs. At the same time, they must prevent vandalism.

 

The biogas is recovered and used as fuel on site by Gazmont, producing enough electricity for 2,000 homes. The company signed a new deal this year to recuperate the gas for 25 years once renovations are completed in 2016. The electricity is sold to Hydro-Québec, with the city getting 11.4 per cent of total sales per year.

 

kmio@montrealgazette.com

 

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/iconic-park-will-rise-from-former-st-michel-dump

[orages lointains]

One challenge city officials face is how to camouflage the more than 500 wells that dot the site. They serve as monitoring stations for the biogas which is emitted by the buried garbage and the city must find a way to hide them while still allowing them to be accessible to workers for repairs. At the same time, they must prevent vandalism.

 

The biogas is recovered and used as fuel on site by Gazmont, producing enough electricity for 2,000 homes. The company signed a new deal this year to recuperate the gas for 25 years once renovations are completed in 2016. The electricity is sold to Hydro-Québec, with the city getting 11.4 per cent of total sales per year.

 

another day in coderre world

http://i.imgur.com/NOKjyNu.gif

[acpnc]

Ça fait longtemps qu'on l'attend ce parc là, ce sera un gros plus pour les gens des quartiers nord. Bien sûr il vient avec de petites contraintes, mais c'est le prix à payer pour récupérer un immense espace en plein coeur de la ville. Après avoir été une gigantesque carrière poussiéreuse à ciel ouvert, il est devenu un grotesque dépotoir qui a empesté durant des décennies les quartiers environnants. Maintenant il redonne un peu de sa richesse en fournissant de l'énergie récupérable, avant de devenir éventuellement, avec le temps, un bel espace vert en milieu urbain.

 

Les citadins l'auront payé cher en qualité de vie, voici d'ailleurs la petite histoire de ce site controversé qui a tout de même contribué à sa manière à l'économie de la ville. http://www.arrondissement.com/tout-get-document/u1224-legendaires-carrieres-saint-michel

 

Il faut maintenant se tourner vers l'avenir et réaliser que cette histoire aura eu une fin heureuse. En effet, elle coïncide avec l'arrivée de cette nouvelle ère du développement durable où l'écologie et l'environnement deviennent des valeurs incontournables de notre société. Comme quoi rien n'est permanent dans ce bas-monde, tout change et se transforme, parfois pour le pire, mais aussi souvent pour le meilleur.

[MtlMan]

Ça pourrait être un catalyseur de développement pour ce coin de la ville. Excellent.

[Né entre les rapides]

Je suis bien content pour les résidents des quartiers environnants. Une nuisance de longue date est graduellement remplacée par un attrait significatif. Et bon pour la santé. Toutefois, je suis incapable d'aller jusqu'à partager l'enthousiasme délirant du maire Coderre, qui va jusqu'à comparer ce site avec le Central Park de New York, notamment. En effet, le «prestige» d'un parc ne tient pas uniquement à ses attributs propres, mais tout autant aux attraits des quartiers qui l'entourent. Sur ce point le site Saint-Michel est infiniment loin du compte. A l'ouest (un peu au-delà de Papineau, le «domaine Saint-Sulpice» est un quartier résidentiel relativement récent et de facture correcte, mais ne méritant pas qu'on y vienne de loin pour s'y promener. Au nord (rue Champdoré) et à l'est (arrière des maisons de la rue Iberville et de la 7e et 8e avenue), c'est encore plus ordinaire.

 

C'est curieux, mais j'étais PLUS content de l'apparition imminente de ce grand parc, AVANT de lire et d'entendre des propos exagérés sur sa gloire future. Question de modestie.

 

Mais s'il fallait (mais ça n'arrivera pas, ouf) que des «mains invisibles» obtiennent des changements de zonage et des permis de démolition des secteurs bâtis environnants, pour y construire en lieu et place des complexes résidentiels et commerciaux de «prestige», au détriment des résidents actuels (qui seraient forcés de se reloger ailleurs), je serais outragé.

 

En résumé, «Central Park+», oubliez ça tout de suite, car ce n'est pas le but de cette grande initiative, rêvée puis initiée bien avant la venue de l'actuelle administration municipale.