Verdun beach location still up in air as deadline looms
Verdun residents are making one last push to have their voices heard as the borough barrels toward its fall deadline for settling on a location for its new beach.
A number of residents have said putting the beach behind the Natatorium on LaSalle Boulevard would destroy what little green space the borough has.
Hélène Pitre, a resident who signed the petition, said the better option would be to build the beach behind the Verdun Auditorium.
She said that location would be closer to a Metro station, and local businesses would benefit from the increase in visitors.
"They will just drop by and bring money into the area. And over there [at the Natatorium] there's nothing to shop for... the birds?" she said.
Environmental concerns
Some people are also concerned that putting the beach behind the Natatorium could hurt the local environment.
Environmental scientist Christopher Amyot said a beach at that site could cancel out many of the benefits of the area's ecosystem and destroy the habitat for a number of animals including ducks, herons and brown snakes.
He also said the borough's practice last winter of using the area as a massive snow dumping ground doesn't help strengthen the case for locating the beach there.
The area also doubled as a dumping area for rocks and contaminated soil during road repair work on LaSalle Boulevard.
The new growth of plants, grass and other vegetation along the coastline is helping to improve water quality and restore a natural balance to the area, Amyot said. The animal life that the new growth invites also contributes to the renaturalization of the area.
"These animals and the plant life in the area play a role in ecosystem services. So they provide services — for free, for us — and help us save thousands, millions of dollars per year," he said.
Pitre plans to hand the petition to Verdun mayor Jean-François Parenteau at Tuesday's borough meeting.
The borough could not be reached for comment.
The Verdun beach is one of many projects slated for completion in 2017, in time for Montreal's 375th anniversary.
