ville mont-royal Royalmount

[urbino]

Une opinion dans The Gazette aujourd'hui.

Hanes: Royalmount project is a bad idea no matter what it looks like

Even if Royalmount is now being billed as "a true, 100% pedestrian eco-innovative neighbourhood," building 3,250 condos in a busy industrial park next to a major highway junction is still a terrible idea.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/allison-hanes-royalmount-is-a-bad-idea-no-matter-what-it-looks-like

 

[SameGuy]

She’s not wrong. I’m not overly concerned by the Chicken Little doomsayers who think it’s too close to an industrial park, but as we’ve said all along, a 200 metre pedestrian bridge to the Métro simply isn’t good enough; without multiple structural changes to transit for the area, it’s virtually impossible to add this development successfully.

[jesseps]

37 minutes ago, SameGuy said:

She’s not wrong. I’m not overly concerned by the Chicken Little doomsayers who think it’s too close to an industrial park, but as we’ve said all along, a 200 metre pedestrian bridge to the Métro simply isn’t good enough; without multiple structural changes to transit for the area, it’s virtually impossible to add this development successfully.

Good luck getting the structural changes done in time or if ever.

[peekay]

3 hours ago, SameGuy said:

She’s not wrong. I’m not overly concerned by the Chicken Little doomsayers who think it’s too close to an industrial park, but as we’ve said all along, a 200 metre pedestrian bridge to the Métro simply isn’t good enough; without multiple structural changes to transit for the area, it’s virtually impossible to add this development successfully.

The plant in question is the largest on the whole island of Montreal and is considered as one of the biggest Kraft Heinz plants in the world. Even though they produce edible products, they still require toxic materials to maintain the vast amounts of machinery they have. You need to be nestled inside an industrial area, not surrounded by any close, residential areas. Better safe than sorry. 

[SameGuy]

Except it’s not “surrounded by” dangerous industries nor is it “right next to” Kraft Canada. How much of a buffer zone do you think is needed, and should we do something about all the other residential areas that are right next to industrial areas? I don’t even have to Google it to know that the traffic congestion at the 15 & 40 causes way more deaths than any industrial activities near residential areas have ever done anywhere in the metropolis. Like I said, it’s a concern, but it’s nowhere near as frightening as these recent articles have made it out to be.

Remember, you never read a headline that states, “AIRPLANE LANDS ON TIME!“

[LexD]

3 hours ago, SameGuy said:

She’s not wrong. I’m not overly concerned by the Chicken Little doomsayers who think it’s too close to an industrial park, but as we’ve said all along, a 200 metre pedestrian bridge to the Métro simply isn’t good enough; without multiple structural changes to transit for the area, it’s virtually impossible to add this development successfully.

presently there is the mascouche line that detours around that area, if that could become a permanent line, a station could be built (right by the kraft building). Its is further than de la savane metro would be but i believe when we consider the type of residents that will be living there , many will walk or bike 500M to have a more comfortable direct line to downtown during rush hour. it would also add passengers that are much needed on that line. another option for an emplacement for a station would be just north of the 40 , the is a pedestrian cross walk to go under the 40 from royalmount site to the small industrial area on the north side, it would only take one or 2 industrial buildings expropriated to make a station there.

Also , we need to take into account traffic flow after the pandemic will be over. Most bottlenecks on the island of Montreal are created by off island drivers. How many will now be working from home permanently? 

reviving the cavendish extension , also extending devonshire thru the new blue bonnets development and we start having some breathing room on the 15/40 junction

[LexD]

1 minute ago, LexD said:

presently there is the mascouche line that detours around that area, if that could become a permanent line, a station could be built (right by the kraft building). Its is further than de la savane metro would be but i believe when we consider the type of residents that will be living there , many will walk or bike 500M to have a more comfortable direct line to downtown during rush hour. it would also add passengers that are much needed on that line. another option for an emplacement for a station would be just north of the 40 , the is a pedestrian cross walk to go under the 40 from royalmount site to the small industrial area on the north side, it would only take one or 2 industrial buildings expropriated to make a station there.

Also , we need to take into account traffic flow after the pandemic will be over. Most bottlenecks on the island of Montreal are created by off island drivers. How many will now be working from home permanently? 

reviving the cavendish extension , also extending devonshire thru the new blue bonnets development and we start having some breathing room on the 15/40 junction

we also need to evaluate how many cars are taking off the road by the REM A west island and airport branches. Lots of west island drivers jam up that area too. and with all the REM projects that will eventually be built in Laval or the orange line extension to bois francs...the project could be feasible if all the stars are aligned.

I think the problem with the Gazette article is its a classic NIMBY point of view, which is to throw the baby out with the bathwater. They never offer solutions, they simply point out the problems and shut down the project....all this does is create problems elsewhere , which is a fundamental reason as to why we  have te traffic issues on 15/40 in the first place.

[peekay]

2 hours ago, SameGuy said:

Except it’s not “surrounded by” dangerous industries nor is it “right next to” Kraft Canada. How much of a buffer zone do you think is needed, and should we do something about all the other residential areas that are right next to industrial areas? I don’t even have to Google it to know that the traffic congestion at the 15 & 40 causes way more deaths than any industrial activities near residential areas have ever done anywhere in the metropolis. Like I said, it’s a concern, but it’s nowhere near as frightening as these recent articles have made it out to be.

Remember, you never read a headline that states, “AIRPLANE LANDS ON TIME!“

I do not have access to the radius but I do remember seeing a few towers within the dangerous radius. There are people who sleep well at night knowing any risk is within the safety guidelines. You do not hear about those headlines because there are safety engineers and safety protocols in place that ensure that almost all airplanes land safely. Safety first buddy.

Ask yourself why some plants NEVER closed during the covid 19 pandemic. Then look at Olymel. I complete shitshow across Quebec. You want to know the difference? Plants that put extreme safety measures first and valued their employees over profit never had outbreaks. 

[SameGuy]

I’ll repeat, how many deaths in a residential area in the Greater Montreal area have you heard of over the last, say, 20 years that were caused by a catastrophic incident in a nearby industrial area? My guess is “none,” because they don’t happen. Is it a concern? Of course it is. But should the project be embargoed because of that infinitesimally small risk? Why? If such risks are to be mitigated by banning nearby residential construction, then nothing will ever get built anywhere.

But I’ll also repeat that this proposal is a terrible idea if it goes ahead without first getting concrete agreements in place to dramatically improve access to the site; road access will never get better, so transit must be reimagined on a grand scale. Will the various levels of government all agree to do this for the benefit of one, single, for-profit developer? That’s about as unlikely as a catastrophic ammonia leak a kilometre away at Kraft Canada.

[SameGuy]

4 hours ago, LexD said:

presently there is the mascouche line that detours around that area, if that could become a permanent line, a station could be built

Yeah this was discussed a little bit earlier in the thread. The diagonal underpass of the Met is fairly large and the right-of-way is large enough to accommodate dedicated tracks alongside the CN freight line. The station could be just north of the Met closer to the 111 Alexis-Nihon project or Marcel-Laurin and the various new developments on that side. I mean Carbonleo proposed “automated electric shuttles” (🙄) to the Mont-Royal REM station, so a station on the current Mascouche (CN) line wouldn’t be tougher to access. Also needed would be the Bois-Franc Orange extension, and a station on the exo St-Jerome line at Decarie/Namur, linked to the Namur metro with a protected passage would help the whole area as well.