Public Consultation Begins on Redevelopment Project for 1500 Ottawa Street, Les Bassins du Nouveau Havre

Montréal, February 3, 2009 – The Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) announces today that it will hold a consultation on a project involving the redevelopment of the site located at 1500 Ottawa Street in the Sud-Ouest borough, for primarily residential purposes. The Canada Lands Company, owner of the site, would like to redevelop the old Canada Post property that once served as a mail sorting centre. The 9.6-ha. site is located between du Séminaire, William and Richmond Streets and the Lachine Canal.

The project would de divided into four sectors. The first would include three 20-storey residential towers and two ponds. The second would consist of eight-storey buildings geared to families. The third, comprising mixed uses, would include housing units, retail businesses on the ground floor, parks, and a public space, while the fourth, reserved exclusively for commercial activities, would contain workshops and offices. A total of 2000 units would be built, approximately 30% of which are earmarked for social or affordable housing. Nineteen hundred parking spaces are also planned for the basement.

The project’s implementation calls for amendments to current by-laws in force. The variances required pertain, among other things, to uses authorized on the site, density, parking requirements, land coverage area, planning criteria and heights. In fact, new height sectors of 44 and 60 metres are planned, while the current authorized limit is 25 metres.

An initial information evening will be held on Tuesday, February 17, 7:00 p.m., in the basement of the Imani Family & Full Gospel Church, 540 Richmond Street. At this meeting, the developer and city representatives will present the real estate project, and citizens will be invited to ask any questions they like about the overall project as a whole. Two other evenings will be held on February 18 and 19, 7:00 p.m., at the same location, to examine more detailed aspects of the site’s development. The theme of the discussions on February 18 will be ecological design of the urban environment, while the planning and development concept will be examined on February 19.

As a second step, beginning on March 10, citizens and group representatives will be invited to express their opinions, either verbally or in writing. These presentations of briefs will be held at 7:00 p.m., in the basement of the above-mentioned Church on Richmond Street.

All information pertaining to the consultation is available for public perusal at the offices of the OCPM, at the Direction du Greffe de la Ville de Montréal, 275 Notre-Dame Street East, and at the Sud-Ouest borough office, 850 Bel-Air Street. The documentation is also available on the Office Web site, at www.ocpm.qc.ca. For any information, please call 514 872-8510.

Created under the Charter of Ville de Montréal in 2002, the OCPM has managed 70 consultations and held over 250 public meetings attended by some 25,000 citizens. Please visit the OCPM Web site, www.ocpm.qc.ca, for complete information about the Office.

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Luc Doray
Tel.: 514 872-3568
Cell: 514 977-8365