Est-ce bien le raccordement Stillview (Sommerset) que je vois dans le nouveau plan d’aménagement? Il est confirmé?
Elle pourra prendre le REM à l’UdeM 
Citizen’s participatory urban planning initiative brings residents to the centre
Prével’s Village Lacey Green project will feature mixed housing, public spaces, parks and proximity to the REM.
Robin Della Corte
Kirkland residents Lindsay Francis and Magdy Boghdady have a conversation recently outside the former Merck Frosst campus. The two were part of a committee of residents dealing with promoter Prével over how to develop the property. PHOTO BY JOHN MAHONEY /Montreal Gazette
Lindsay Francis and Magdy Boghdady live one kilometre away from each other in Kirkland but have one thing in common: they participated in a special citizen-approach task force to collaborate in one of the town’s biggest residential development projects.
As part of an innovative urban planning initiative, Francis, Boghdady along with six other residents, were brought on a task force that formed in late 2019, joining representatives from property owner, Broccolini, the developer, Prével, and the city to collaborate on a vision for the Charles-E. Frosst site, located just west of the Fairview—Pointe-Claire REM station.
Boghdady, 72, has been living in Kirkland for 41 years, and with his experience working as an engineer and project manager in developing and managing industrial projects in Canada, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, he felt compelled to join the task force.
“We were very satisfied with the outcome of the process,” Boghdady said. “We did not have that expectation at the beginning, but we worked on it together, we dialogued, and the city and developer listened.”
The task force is a result of a prior proposed 800-unit residential development project consisting of condominiums and townhouses that was scrapped in 2016 after residents signed a register opposing the project promoted by property owner Broccolini.
Residents opposing the site presented a petition with over 400 signatures to city council to stop the zoning change of the site to allow for residential development in December 2015.
However, council approved the zoning change, which prompted residents to file a register in January 2016 and obtained over 300 votes, more than double the 125 minimum signatures required to either force city council to drop the proposing zoning changes or call a referendum.
The project was dropped, and Francis, 33, was part of that opposition. Now, she’s on the task force.
“It was definitely meaningful to participate,” Francis, who has been living in Kirkland since 1993, said. “It was an upsetting situation in 2015 to a lot of residents because it wasn’t a vision that many were onboard with.”
At the time, the proposed project included six condominiums towers, some up to 13 storeys, 142 townhouses and 182 stacked townhouses.
“It just didn’t feel like Kirkland to people,” Francis said.
Boghdady says traffic was also a concern for residents that would be caused with the new development and with the arrival of the REM nearby. Thus, Boghdady pushed for a traffic study on the task force that would provide a scientific analysis of the future pattern of traffic so action plans could be developed.
“Getting the city of Kirkland to commission their own traffic study was certainly a success for our committee,” Boghdady said. “The results were clear, and the city accepted the traffic study recommendations and pledged actions over three to five years.”
Boghdady and Francis also highlighted the graduation and placement of building types on the site, now one of the biggest differences from this project to the last. The new project incorporates single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses in a more logistical flow, integrating better into the existing-make-up of the neighbourhood.
“We succeeded in showing the city and the developer these issues and putting them into the new project,” Boghdady said. “The graduation of the buildings solved one of the major problems seven years ago.”
Kirkland Mayor Michel Gibson celebrates the collaborative process and anticipates that Kirkland, and other cities, could use this model for future development projects.
“For Kirkland, this will be the way,” Gibson said. “It was very important that the project be driven by residents that would be directly impacted by our project. We listened, we explained the position of city, and then they brought their ideas. It’s a process that should be done by every municipality.”
Prével president Laurence Vincent says this participatory philosophy between all stakeholders is not new to them and is something they practice in other projects.
“We had many meetings throughout the months to exchange about this vision and different elements we had to take into consideration,” Vincent said. “We wanted to make sure we would come out with the best project possible for the residents that already live there and future residents.”
And although the task force’s mandate officially ended last fall when the site’s zoning was changed, Prével decided to continue communication with the residents during the final stages of the project.
In August, Prével hosted an open house on site to show residents the latest edition of the project. The project, which is slated to be completed over the next six to 10 years, is in the process of getting approval for the architecture of phase one of the first building so selling and construction of the building can begin.
“We feel good that we did have a positive outcome and a good cooperation from the city and the developer,” Boghdady said. “We got our points across, which are embedded into the project right now.”
Francis says her seven-year involvement in this project has inspired her to purse a Master of Science in sustainability management, focusing on the role of municipalities in sustainability issues.
“I think the city has learned a lot since 2015,” Francis said. “A key issue at hand at the time was that information was missing throughout the community, so continued communication and participation is appreciated among the community. I think this serves as an example of what community engagement can do.”
The new project, to be constructed over six phases, will total between 600 and 750 condo or rental units as well as 47 single-family homes and around 110 townhouses. The first phase, which should launch in early 2023, will have around 130 condo units.
