La Ville de Westmount élabore actuellement un programme particulier d’urbanisme pour le secteur sud-est de la ville
Le secteur ciblé est délimité au nord par la rue Sherbrooke, à l’est par l’avenue Atwater, au sud par le boulevard Dorchester et à l’ouest par l’avenue Wood. Elle comprend également la zone comprise entre la rue Sainte-Catherine et le boulevard Dorchester, depuis leur jonction à l’ouest, jusqu’à l’avenue Wood à l’est.
Le PPU préliminaire a été préparé par la firme Lemay
Plans d'ensemble préliminaires
- Place Gladstone
- Esplanade Dorchester et reconfiguration de la chaussée
- Parc Dorchester-Clarke
- Nouvelle entrée de Westmount etreconfiguration de Sainte-Catherine
- Axe paysager partagé
- Reconfiguration du boul. De Maisonneuve
Encadré : Équipement public - emplacement potentiel
Rues et trame urbaine
Parcs et places publiques
Cadre bâti
Images
Localisation
Projets
En planification
En construction
Terminés
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Dans la Gazette
Atwater Library has weathered a lot of changes to the streetscape around it over the last century, but the institution’s directors say their heritage building will be threatened if Westmount accepts a proposal to permit construction of a 25-storey tower next door to it.
“It is the little library scared of the behemoth,” Bruce Bolton, who presides over the board of directors, said of seeing the proposal for the 25-storey tower in a document rendered public on Westmount’s website several days ago.
The document was produced by the architecture firm Lemay, which was hired by Westmount to accompany it in drafting a new urban plan for the southeast sector of the municipality bordering downtown Montreal.
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article564221.html
Lettre d’opinion dans La Gazette
Damage from poor planning can affect a neighbourhood for generations. The southeast sector of Westmount is a case in point. In 1960, Westmount city council embarked on a disastrous rethink of the area bounded by Clarke Ave., Ste-Catherine St., Atwater Ave. and the railway tracks. As a start, from Ste-Catherine to Dorchester Blvd., city blocks of perfectly viable houses were reduced to rubble. The street pattern was interrupted, creating dead-ends and traffic arteries.
We can only be grateful that citizen action halted this ill-conceived renewal scheme. Otherwise, the parking lots that exist along and north of Dorchester would have extended down to the railway tracks and wiped out all the small-scale housing that defines the north-south streets from Clandeboye to Hallowell Aves.
Now, the architecture firm Lemay has produced a plan that resuscitates the intentions of the 1960s plan, including the construction of highrise towers, either seemingly plunked down arbitrarily, or lining Ste-Catherine.
https://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/op-eds/article617830.html
Westmount Mayor Christina Smith hopes residents will take an open-minded look at a proposal to promote the redevelopment of part of the city’s southeast sector, which includes an increase in height allowances north of Dorchester Blvd. and several highrises along Ste-Catherine St.
Smith said she expects lively debates on the proposal over the coming months, including at Monday’s city council meeting.
The controversial proposal was produced by the architecture firm Lemay, which Westmount commissioned to help draft a new, targeted urban plan for its southeast sector, just west of downtown Montreal. The proposal has been criticized by some urban development experts as “a wholesale renunciation of Westmount’s traditional low-rise, dense urban environment.”
Critics have also suggested the plan ignores heritage buildings in the area, such as the Atwater Library, which would be dwarfed by a 25-storey tower at Ste-Catherine and Atwater, and that it promotes a “generic” brand of development.
Westmount mayor hopes allowing highrises will spur development : https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article669322.html
The Mayor is naive or confused, West Mount residents are not open to any development. This plan is dead on arrival, just like the residential part of Royal Mount or pretty much anything in the West Island near REM stations.
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Ça y est, encore une utilisation des erreurs des années 60 pour bloquer le développement, je pense qu’à un moment faudra réaliser qu’on peut pas négocier avec ces gens-là. Ils vont jamais être content, alors autant y aller avec quelques consultations avec des citoyens de bonne foie et commencer le projet.
C’est normal d’avoir peur, mais à un moment certaines personnes ne pourront jamais être totalement rassurés.
On apprend qu’il y a un projet de tour à la place Alexis-Nihon!
Westmount is anticipating a large turnout for a public consultation Wednesday on the new iteration of a controversial redevelopment plan for the city’s southeast sector bordering downtown Montreal.
The consultation on the new version of the mini urban plan, which still calls for several highrises to be built on Ste-Catherine St. W. and Dorchester Blvd., will be held at Victoria Hall because it has a larger capacity than Westmount City Hall, Mayor Christina Smith said this week.
The new version also introduces podiums (“basilaires” in French) for several of the towers. The low-rise podiums will allow the towers emerging from them, including along Ste-Catherine, to be set back from the street, Smith said.
The new plan also introduces incentive zoning on two lots in the sector, meaning the possibility of granting bonus floors on those lots to developers if they incorporate features with community benefits in their projects.
One of the lots marked for incentive zoning is a proposed new tower above Alexis-Nihon Plaza, on the north side of Ste-Catherine. The initial version of the Lemay plan set the height at 20 storeys, while the new version calls for 24 storeys and the possibility of building to 29 storeys through incentive zoning.
However, version 2.0 of the Lemay proposal doesn’t seem to appease the critics.
Dans la Gazette : https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article994587.html
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Il semble qu’il y a juste la Gazette qui parle de ce PPU
Westmount Mayor Christina Smith says the municipality is open to tweaking its controversial redevelopment plan for its southeast sector, bordering downtown Montreal, before it goes to a vote in September, but critics are demanding that she invoke Westmount’s designation as an exceptional heritage sector to prevent highrise development.
“We’re probably going to see some slight modifications, for sure,” Smith told The Gazette last week.
She was referring to continued opposition from residents to a proposed seven- to 12-storey development on Dorchester Blvd., across from Victorian row houses that are characteristic of Westmount, and to a proposed row of four 20-storey towers on Ste-Catherine St. W., just west of Atwater Ave.
It’s wild to me to see 7-to-12-storey towers referred to as “highrises”. Even 20-storey buildings barely fit that definition in my opinion. Westmount, especially that part of Westmount, is close to downtown, it’s not like taller towers would be out of place.
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Yet that doesn’t seem to be out of range of engineering, architectural, building code and safety boards around the world. Maybe you’re thinking more of skyscrapers?
I wish Peter Trent would just enjoy retirement and spare us from his bad takes.
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I was not aware that there is a professional definition of highrise! I was indeed going off a more colloquial equivalence of skyscraper and highrise. Very good to know there is a technical difference in definition, thanks!
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It’s pretty common to conflate the two, especially considering definitions vary. I myself would typically refer to 7-to-12 as midrise, but highrise isn’t wrong either, though a bit loaded.
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