Verdun’s urban planning committee (CCU) has approved the latest project for the de l’Eglise lot south of Edna where the Hollywood Café used to be, but neighbours aren’t happy.
The neighbours are not against building something there, but this project looks horrible,” says Michel Laberge, who lives in a circa-1942 home next to the lot. “There are nine parking spots in the back: 7 for the 13 condo owners and two for the commercial property. People are already driving around and around this street trying to park. On the top of the building, there’s going to be 21 motors. That’s going to be really noisy.”
Parking frustrations and noise are only two of the many reasons Laberge cites against the four-storey mixed-use building. He says he’s worried that construction of the new building will shift his dry foundation. He paid for an engineer’s report to make sure that doesn’t happen, but he’s not hopeful it will be respected. Laberge wishes he could have left the neighbourhood before all this began, but an earlier project that included buying his property and the owner of another property nearby was refused by Verdun last October.
There have been at least six projects proposed for the lot, but this is the first time neighbours have been consulted. Laberge says that any of the earlier ones would have been better than this one.
He’s not the only person who thinks so. Sixteen other neighbours participated in the June 25 consultation and those who spoke condemned the latest project. In addition to the potential noise and parking difficulties, they worry that the height and size of the new building will block their sun and interfere with their privacy.
Some were frustrated that the borough consultation process doesn’t give them any say over the project conception. Afterwards, they all had questions about how the register process works.
A few days later, lot owner Chrystos Karantounis, the owner of Zappy’s Pizza, showed me the first four versions of his plans for the lot. The first project was proposed on June 23, 2011 and including eight condominiums, six parking spots and an 80-child daycare. A month later, there were new windows on the side wall of the commercial space and the addition of a land-coverage figure (49.5%). In September that year, the old Hollywood Café was demolished and new plans were sent to the city. By January, 2012, plans dropped to include only six condos and five parking spots.
I argued with that curly-haired guy they got rid of,” said Karantounis. “He made me change so many things, that’s why I lose so much money. I’m tired. I give up.”
In the end, the entire plan was scrapped because Karantounis couldn’t get a daycare permit. “Two times I try to make the garderie, but I didn’t get the permit because my name’s not Tremblay.”
Nothing happened for a few months, until Karantounis was contacted by Claude Lachance and Nathan Bedock from GCA créateurs immobiliers. In addition to being developers, Lachance and Bedock are members of the Fondation du développement local de Verdun.
Karantounis paid for the old Hollywood Café structure to be demolished in May 2012. The project damaged Laberge’s roof and left spaces in his adjoining wall. Karantounis fixed the roof and insulated the outside wall and then handed the project over to Lachance and Bedock. They’ve handled all submissions to the city about the project in the last year.
When everything is done, I will sell it to the developer,” said Karantounis. “They do the job, but I don’t want to get involved with the construction. I’m in the restaurant business. What do I know about construction?”
Lachance and Bedock got approval for a project with a much larger footprint than Karantounis’ plans, but they had hoped it would be even larger.
Last October, they made conditional deals to buy out Laberge and his next door neighbour to develop the entire corner. Both owners accepted, but Verdun’s CCU rejected the plan. The borough considers Laberge’s home, which dates from 1897, an important heritage site. (Note: Montreal’s tax rolls show Laberge’s home as being built in 1942, which would make the structure significantly younger than it is. The tax roll date stems from a zone change made on September 8, 1945 that allowed a small addition to the back of the property.)
The current project has been accepted by the CCU. It contains 13 condo units plus a commercial space that occupies 68.89% of the property. It is one storey higher than current bylaws allow and also doesn’t meet requirements for number of parking spaces, garage door heights, exterior access to the property or the architectural requirement to harmonize with the district.
Neighbours who object can petition for a referendum in mid-August. If twelve people from each of the six zones sign, a register for a referendum will take place early in September.
For more information about the site, refer to the original project notice.
Note: This story appeared on the first page of the city edition of the Suburban on Wednesday, July 23.
