East-end logistics centre held off
I don’t think I have many readers east of Pie-IX, but the question of the Ray-Mont logistics centre is interesting, if only as an object lesson in practical politics: can a community succeed in canceling a project with important economic impact but which threatens the peace of their neighbourhood, and how will the city decide? Some kind of compromise may be possible between Ray-Mont Logistics and the surrounding residential area.
ReneB 11:00 on 2021-06-15 Permalink
Long time reader from east of Pie-IX here.
The area used to be majorly industrial around L’Assomption and Hochelaga but there has been many commercial and residential projects in the last decade and the buffer between those zones is getting smaller and smaller.
Kate 11:01 on 2021-06-15 Permalink
Thanks, ReneB. That’s a relevant observation.
dhomas 04:24 on 2021-06-16 Permalink
Hi there! I’m also East of Pie-IX.
This is a garbage project by a company that basically took advantage of a zoning loophole. It’s all very legal, but it’s still shitty. The city should have changed the zoning years ago, but this guy, Charles Raymond, got his hands on the land while it was still zoned industrial. It hasn’t been used by CN for so long that nature has started reclaiming it. The article linked doesn’t really show where the site actually is, but there’s a picture in this article that does: https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/grand-montreal/2021-03-01/projet-logistique-bloque-a-mercier-hochelaga-maisonneuve/la-ville-de-montreal-poursuivie-pour-373-millions.php. And you’ll see that it basically comes right up to very residential areas.
I’ve biked through that land. There’s a bike path that ends right at the entrance of CN’s territory here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/XNyJGj3bbq4XThQV7. There are train tracks that go along the northern edge of the proposed Ray-Mont project. I decided to explore what was on the other side based on what I saw from Google Maps. I always kinda hoped that the city would continue that bike path alongside the train tracks and link it to the pretty great bike path along Souligny on the other side. The Souligny bike path is awesome until it dumps you in the middle of nowhere. This kind of link would have allowed cyclists to continue their path westward through some nice parts of Hochelaga Maisonneuve and even continue towards downtown.
Kate 09:26 on 2021-06-16 Permalink
East of Pie-IX is representing!