Pump track on Nuns' Island gets green light from Verdun
Despite fierce opposition from some residents, a $973,000 contract to build a pump track in Adrien-D.-Archambault Park on Nuns’ Island was approved at Tuesday’s Verdun borough council meeting.
According to the contract awarded to Les Terassements Multi-Paysages Inc., the pump track will be constructed this summer and inaugurated in the fall.
A pump track is a recreational looped track with banked turns designed to allow in-line skaters, cyclists, skateboarders, scooters and those using off-road wheelchairs to gain speed and then keep momentum. The tracks have become popular in many cities, including Montreal, because they are a relatively low-cost outdoor public recreational facility, something that is in short supply on Nuns’ Island.
But some Nuns’ Island residents say they will continue to fight this one. One resident who lives near the site
filed a request in Quebec Superior Court
last April for a declaratory judgment on whether the city can legally build a pump track at the site, given its various documented commitments to preserve the area.
Others have signed open letters, and 4,000 signed a petition expressing concerns. They say the facility will bring “increased traffic, noise, crowding, vandalism, graffiti and enforcement pressures,” as well as “high volumes of minors,” which will create “foreseeable safety risks,” says a letter to municipal officials signed by several area residents.
They note the project has not yet received authorization from Quebec’s environment department, and they are not satisfied with the borough’s attempts to address environmental concerns. They also complain that the cost of the project has ballooned from an initial estimate of $800,000 to just over $2 million, including preparation work and various changes to the surrounding park.
Christopher Brière, one of the residents who oppose the project, said he is frustrated that Verdun borough mayor Céline-Audrey Beauregard has ruled out moving the planned facility to a different location. He notes that Beauregard, who is a member of opposition party Projet Montréal, won her mayor’s seat by a slim majority, and he claims most Nuns’ Island residents voted against her party partly because of the pump track project.
“For an elected official who often claims she wants to listen to constituents — and who represented Nuns’ Island as a borough councillor for four years — it is strikingly tone-deaf for the mayoress to say she is not open to any compromise,” Brière said.
But Beauregard says the cost for this project is reasonable compared with other pump track projects in the region, noting a similar project in Argenson Park in the Sud-Ouest borough cost $2.3 million, and another in Sablon Park in Laval cost $2.1 million.
She acknowledged costs have grown as the project evolved to include several environmental and structural improvements to the park, and the borough has responded to residents’ concerns, including taking steps to protect the brown snake, an at-risk species, plant trees and improve lighting.
She said that although some Nuns’ Island residents may have voted for change in the municipal elections, opposition to the pump track was not a major reason. She said most residents understand the need for more public recreational facilities.
The borough will fund about 50 per cent of the project, she noted, under its Ten-Year Capital Investment Program, the central city will cover $766,000 through its outdoor sports facilities program, and the federal government will contribute $80,000 from a tree-planting program.
“Nuns’ Island has a flagrant lack of infrastructure … and this facility can be used by all ages, and during all four seasons. … It doesn’t need as much maintenance as other types of facilities. This project responds to the needs of young people and families,” Beauregard said.
The track will be about 30 metres from nearby homes and 80 metres from the Domaine Saint-Paul Forest. The area will remain mostly green, with asphalt covering only 850 square metres, about the size of a tennis court and a half. The lot where the track will be built is currently dominated by a type of invasive reed called phragmites. These will be removed, while all healthy trees in the area will be preserved and 45 more will be planted, along with 150 bushes.
Beauregard said she expects the provincial environment department to approve the project and that it is normal to award a contract before such authorization is granted.