Without prejudice
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Chronology of events
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Summary
This page presents a chronology of the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro’s work with Daniel Arbour & Associes, ongoing since at least June 2007, to convert 10 existing urban planning and zoning bylaws and harmonize and update them into 5 unified bylaws.
See table 2 in this document for a table presenting the new bylaws and the bylaws they will replace. Table 2 also provide links to draft versions of the new bylaws.
Of concern:
- procedures used by borough are risky for protecting the public interest
- almost $300,000 spent to consultants since June 2007
- more than 1000+ pages of bylaws to replace existing bylaws yet residents have extremely limited information as to how new bylaws differ from existing bylaws
- Council apparently approved the bylaws without having first carefully read the 1000+ pages
- Information is not provided to show that new bylaws respect the urban plan
- New bylaws may actually go against sustainable development guidelines of the urban plan
- A new bylaws on conditional uses is introduced and it is not clear how this bylaw will be used in the future, especially for controversial installations such as cell phone towers
- Interestingly, on at the Aug 2 2010 Pierrefonds-Roxboro council meeting, the urbanist Pierre Rochon in response to a question, says that the new bylaws came into effect July 19 2010. If this is the case, then why are there not notices or communiqués of promulgation of these bylaws on either the borough or the City of Montreal Web sites for dates on or before July 19 2010?
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2010-08-04
Letter received from the Syndic of the Order of Quebec Urbanists in response to a letter sent to that office by Lewis Poulin July 7 2010
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2010-08-02
We learn at the August 2 2010 council meeting that the new bylaws came into effect on July 19 2010
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2010-08-01 -Local democracy shouldn’t be this hard – The Gazette
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2010-07-27 -System obviously flawed – The Gazette
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2010-07-14 – Interesting article of concerns, similar to ours, but at the federal level APRPR contacted Professor Franks to inform him that residents are also concerned about procedures used by local governments. Professor Franks responded by email by saying: « As one would say in French: « Je me consterne! » – Ned Franks »
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2010-07-06 – A letter is sent to the office of the Syndic of l’Ordre des Urbanistes du Quebec
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2010-06-28 – Extraordinary council meeting where the new bylaws are adopted by council.
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2010-06-22- A first letter sent to l’Ordre des Urbanistes du Québec (OUQ) asking what recourse may be possible to residents concerning concerns regarding decisions made by urban planners involved in the project
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2010-06-(21,22) – Results of the register
There was an important vote on June 21-22 2010 in the borough. Unfortunately the vast majority of residents were not aware of this vote. As a result, those who did not sign the register « voted » in favor of the new zoning bylaws which they were not familiar with. It appears council has also approved bylaws they had not fully read and may not have been familar with.
The APRPR thanks the more then 429** residents who signed the register against the new zoning bylaws. The APRPR continues to watch the harmonization of bylaws project very closely as it still maintains the manner in which this project is managed is very risky to proprietors and residents. The APRPR is also awaiting the final report of the Ombudsman of Montreal who is currently investigating on this matter.
** Oddly, one resident who signed late on june 22 thought that the number beside his name was closer to 500 and that with the remaining people left to sign that the total number of signatures would have easily been between 500-600.
Click here for a list of concerns regarding the June 21-22 2010 register
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IMPORTANT REGISTER protesting zoning bylaws
Bring ID: drivers license and health care card
No drivers license? Bring a bill showing your name and address, ex: Hydro or telephone bill.
Borough hall beside the Pierrefonds library
Click here to read why you should sign the register
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2010-06-08 Montreal Gazette – Proposed zoning changes still angering Pierrefonds residents
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2010-06-07 – Scheduled meeting of Pierrefonds-Roxboro Council
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2010-06-06- Click here to read The Risky Business of Harmonizing Bylaws
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2010-05-31 – Details of the public consultation
Click here for a summary of questions and answers from this consultation meeting of May 31 2010
APRPR Notes (French only) Part 1 Part 2
- Announcement of second public consultation Harmonizing of bylaws project – Monday May 31 mai 2010, at 19 h, at borough hall, 13665, boulevard de Pierrefonds.
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2010-05-29 – Click here for an overview of issues from perspective of residents
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Attention Registers: June 21-22 and possibly July 2010
- June 21-22: public register expected for zoning and subdivision bylaws
- TBD July 2010: public register conditional uses – Cancelled June 28 2010 because of confusion during resident application for register
- In both the above cases, more than 1288 signatures are necessary to demonstrate that residents are opposed to the bylaws.
- 1288+ valid signatures required for residents to indicate opposition to zoning bylaw(s)
- Click here to read about concerns regarding the public register
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2010-05-30 Survey results
Click here to view results of APRPR survey on harmonizing urban planning bylaws
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2010-05-03 Conseil Pierrefonds-Roxboro In particular see points 40.02 to 40.06 – Notices of motion for proposed bylaws (except urban planning bylaw)
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2010-04-22: Pierrefonds residents ask ombudsman to investigate borough’s new bylaws – The Gazette, West Island section
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2010-04-09
Some of the comments submitted by residents as part of public consultation
- Mme Benavides,Pierrefonds sector
- M. Guy Billard, Roxboro sector
- M. Normand Gagnon, Roxboro sector
-Mrs Martha Bond, Pierrefonds sector
-M. Lewis Poulin, Roxboro sector
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2010-03-16 – 14-21h Open house, Tuesday, council chamber Pierrefonds-Roxboro
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2010-03-09 Public Consultation
Notes: Part-1 Part-2 Part-3 Part-4
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2010-03-25 – Ombudsman of Montreal investigating
The Ombusdman of Montreal is investigating to determine, among other things, if the information and procedures presented by the borough respect the Montreal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities
The Ombudsman is collecting information up to April 27 as part of the first stage of the investigation
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2010-03-24 – Request made to the Ombudsman of Montreal
French: Summary of the problems and desired corrections
Complete version of the request as submitted to the Ombudsman
Strong support for the APRPR from CSSS on this matter
Click here to read some comments concerning the documents available at the Roxboro library concerning this project
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2010-03-04,10,16: Information from the MDDEP
Concerning lot 1 171 908 See letter sent to the MDDEP
Answers from the MDDEP: Part 1 – 10 march 2010 Part 2 – 16 mars 2010
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How do the new bylaws differ from existing bylaws?
The borough and consultants have not provided key documents for residents to be able to easily compare the new proposed bylaws against the bylaws currently in effect.
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2010-02-09 – Herculean (Olympian) task for residents
The borough publishes 1050 pages on its web site and invites the public to familiarize themselves with them.
The proposed documents are intended to replace Pierrefonds bylaws 1047, 1048, 1051, and 1109 and Roxboro bylaws 93-0555, 93-0556, 93-0557, 93-0558, 94-0572). A Herculean challenge during the 2010 Olympic games!
Here are more details on proposed changes to bylaws:
A proposed urban planning bylaw (54 pages) to replace both 1051 of Pierrefonds and 93-0558 of Roxboro (This bylaw was eventually withdrawn and would be adopted at a later time)
A proposed minor variances bylaw (12 pages) to replace Chapter XII of 1047 Pierrefonds and 93-0557 of Roxboro
A proposed subdivision bylaw (25 pages) to replace both 1048 of Pierrefonds and 93-0556 of Roxboro
A proposed « plans d`implémentations et intégrations architecturale (P.I.I.A.) » bylaw (80 pages + Annexe A et Annexe B) to replace both 1009 of Pierrefonds and 94-0572 of Roxboro
A new conditional uses bylaw for Pierrefonds-Roxboro. It is not clear how this bylaw will be used in the future, especially for controversial installations such as cell phone towers
A proposed zonging bylaw (358 pages and 12 Annexes of about 500 pages) to replace both 1047 of Pierrefonds and 93-0555 of Roxboro. This bylaw contains over 65 zone changes. Normally each zone change brings in $5000 to the borough. In this case the borough has decided to NOT collect the $5000 for each of the zone changes.
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Reference information for residents
(1) French – Modification du plan et des règlements d’urbanisme – Manuel de procédure, (Québec) Ministère de Affaires municipales, février 1997
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(2) Read about the Risks of harmonizing borough bylaws while province is updating urban planning and other laws
(3) $287,364.96 spent since June 13 2007
Pierrefonds-Roxboro has paid almost $300,000 to Daniel Arbour & Associes for the work to harmonize the urban planning and zoning bylaws.
(4) May 2007: Previous public consultation
Residents had indicated in 2007 that it was difficult, if not impossible, to participate in a public consultation if too much information is presented. The OCPM aggreed.
(5) Changes to Minor Variances bylaws (dérogations mineures)
Click here to see an attempt at comparing the prposed and existing minor variances bylaws of Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
(6) Subdivision bylaw (reglement de lotissement)
Click here to see a comparison of the tables of contents between the proposed and previous subdivision bylaw of Pierrefonds-Roxboro
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Looking for assistance from urban planning experts to assist residents
(7) Urban planning students and experts who would like to assist Pierrefonds-Roxboro residents can assist by helping in comparing existing bylaws against the new bylaws. If you would like to participate please constact 
See this document for information on how a school project could be of great interest to urban planning and law students while providing a community service to borough residents.
