The Suburban, July 6 2005, p.5

Pharmaprix register Aug. 31

By Diodora Bucur, The Suburban


Project opponents Nicole Tellier, Claude Casgrain and Claire Donan want greenspace preserved.

With a register on the proposed construction of a Pharmaprix drugstore/residence at the corner of Côte St. Luc Rd. and Decarie Blvd. scheduled for Aug. 31, N.D.G. resident Clifford Borden feels the City of Montreal should purchase the empty lot at the busy intersection.

“If the city would create an extra lane for the bus stop and a right-hand turn [onto Decarie Blvd.] like the one created for Wal-Mart at Jean Talon St. and Decarie Blvd., it would clear up a lot of the traffic mess which exists on Côte St. Luc Rd. heading west,” said Borden. “This traffic will get a lot worse if the Cavendish extension is ever built or Meadowbrook [gulf course] is ever developed. This is probably the only chance to acquire this land and it is an opportunity that should not be wasted.”

C.D.N./N.D.G. chairman Michael Applebaum conceded that Borden’s proposal is interesting, but undoable.

“It sounded very interesting, but it is not possible,” he said. “The circulation department looked at that issue and it was never possible because that is an intersection where a lot of people cross the street. If you made a second lane to turn right then the sidewalk would not match with the sidewalk across the street and that would make it more dangerous for pedestrians.”

Applebaum added that the borough is resetting traffic lights along Decarie Blvd., “in order to relieve traffic on Decarie Blvd. and Côte St. Luc Rd.”

C.D.N./N.D.G. spokesman François Puchin confirms the register will be held Wednesday, Aug. 31, but he said both the location of the register and the number of signatures needed to force a referendum will be announced in a public notice Aug. 10.

Last month, the C.D.N./N.D.G. council approved the second reading of the project, with only two of the six-member council voting against the project, including Snowdon councillor Marvin Rotrand and Loyola opposition councillor Jeremy Searle.

Searle, who is Applebaum’s opponent in the Nov. 6 borough mayoralty race, says Borden’s suggestion is out of the question.

“What an absurd notion,” he said. “The site is the obvious location for residential development.”

The project calls for the construction of a three-storey structure on the 2,500 square-metre lot, which will include the pharmacy and housing units for out-of-town employees of the Toronto-based chain. Currently zoned institutional, the land must be rezoned commercial/residential before the project can be approved.

Area residents are opposing the project which they fear will displace greenspace and create visual pollution and increased traffic.

In the past, Applebaum called the project “the best of the worst,” saying the promoter considered building condos. The project has the approval of the borough’s comité consultatif d’urbanisme (CCU).

A Suburban call to Pharmaprix’s headquarters in Toronto was not returned by press time. 

2005-07-06 09:13:37