Montreal City Weblog

Kate 09:58 on 2023-09-15 Permalink Reply  

• saintjacques 10:29 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  We need transit-oriented development and more dense housing near already-existing mass-transit infrastructure.

  But no, not there!

• dhomas 11:00 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  I live not far from there. It’s a shame that they are razing the woods. It is (was) a nice, densely wooded area. However, idiots have been dumping construction waste and other crap on those woods for some time. It wasn’t really being taken care of. Still, there are tons of lots around Assomption metro that could have been built on before razing those woods.

• saintjacques 11:22 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  To be clear, my original comment was supposed to be firmly tongue-in-cheek. I’m not a fan of gratuitously cutting down trees, but assuming that the goal is to create additional housing, I’d rather cut down trees 150 meters away from an existing Metro station than pave over agricultural land on the far side of Autoroute 30.

  Also, what do existing zoning rules require/permit? It appears to me that areas west of the metro station, between Assomption and Viau are not zoned residential, and even that wooded lot looks pretty marginal from a desirability standpoint.

• Kate 11:35 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  I don’t know who saintjacques is, but I know dhomas is right. There are lots that could more readily be sacrificed.

  dhomas, would you call the area Maisonneuve? My map was indecisive. It’s in the borough of MHM but the Assomption metro zone seems to be in an uncertain area between Longue‑Pointe, Viauville and Cité‑Jardin without belonging to any of them.

• DeWolf 11:37 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  The areas west of the boulevard are remaining industrial, but everything east of it has been rezoned residential. There’s a PPU:

  https://forum.agoramtl.com/t/ppu-assomption-nord-discussion-generale/2168

• saintjacques 12:21 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  I’m looking at the area on Google Maps, which has no way of distinguishing between occupied buildings and defunct buildings, but cars and trailer trucks in an adjacent parking lot are a good proxy.

  Looking at the east side of Assomption, there is one lot between Chauveau and Sherbrooke – looking at the interactive zoning map, that appears to be zoned commercial. And there is one, smaller lot a bit further east of Marseilles from the wooded lot. Looking at the zoning map, that one appears to be zoned light industrial, as best I can tell – so can’t build residential on either of those unless you get a derogation.

  Everything between Assomption and Viau appears to be zoned industrial or light industrial, except for the strip fronting directly on Sherbrooke East, which is commercial.

  I think there is a breezy assumption that just because there are *other* vacant lots nearby, that therefore it is inadvisable, unethical, immoral or plain downright stupid to build on the wooded lot at Assomption and Marseilles. But these sentiments – I share the aversion to cutting down trees – ignore the fact that our democratically-elected government has put these other lots out of reach for building housing.

  In the interim, that wooded lot, which is both available, currently zoned for residential, and smack on top of a metro station, just sits there. And nothing gets built, except out in the exurbs. I completely understand the intrinsic value of a wooded lot. Open, undeveloped space is in itself a good thing. But just be honest that you are willing to trade housing for that. And, to reiterate, housing that would be right on top of existing mass transit infrastructure.

  And then people kvetch about there not being enough housing on the island. And meanwhile, they cheerfully pave over yet another agricultural lot out in the fringes of Brossard or Boucherville. But it’s apparently better if they build something I don’t like *over there,* because I’m willing to trade that to ensure they haven’t built something I don’t like *over here.*

• dhomas 13:26 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  @saintjacques the two buildings east of Assomption are in active use. One is used as a Natrel distribution center (the one right next to the former wooded area). The other is a Renaud-Bray distribution center. Before that, it stood unused for a number of years as a former Cascades paper building until Renaud-Bray came in and renovated the place. I could only see the improvements from outside since I biked by daily from 2014 to 2018, but I could tell that they cleaned up the brickwork and replaced all the windows. But I saw the progression of improvements.

  The building on the west side of Assomption is used by a company called Scientific Games, though I’m not sure they’re still using it. Just south of there is a Coca-Cola plant.

  Most of the lots north of the metro on the east side of Assomption are already being built on. Next to the bowling alley, around the metro edicule, etc. I think the lot that appears empty on Google Maps between Chauveau and Sherbrooke may also already being built on.

  There has been much development in the area lately. It was a notoriously underused area. They are also redeveloping the area south of there. I think they are going to extend Assomption towards the south, to reach Notre-Dame. I already see a lot of work having been done from the Dickson side. I think much of this is to accommodate the new shipping yard being developped by Ray-Mont (still sour about that).

  @Kate I have no idea what the area would be called, TBH. I think Maisonneuve is more the area around Marché Maisonneuve. It might be Longue-Pointe, which is just south of where I live, but I don’t know if it reaches that far west (the Eastern border being around Highway 25). I think Viauville stops at the train tracks (behind Grace Dart). I had never heard of Cité-Jardin before, but I have to assume it’s next to the golf course, where there are all those posh houses. So, I would just called that area “HoMa”. It’s kinda “limitrophe”.

• Kate 13:57 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  Cité-Jardin is marked on Google maps. It’s a strange spot. Closer to Rosemont Blvd the houses are sort of rural and hobbity, but when you get over toward the golf course there are some real 1960s-modernist houses. Worth walking around in.

• saintjacques 15:02 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  The number of vacant lots on which one could build housing with any kind of density, within a 750m radius of Assomption metro, is pretty small, especially when you remove all the lots that are zoned so that residential is not a permitted use.

  Ideally, Assomption and Cadillac metro stations would each have been built about 250 meters to the east, to better serve residential areas, but have no idea what those neighbourhoods looked like 45+ years ago when they were planning and building the metro.