Newsletter – January 2021
Brand new urban plan for Gatineau
Last December the City of Gatineau approved its new Urban Plan and the corresponding zoning regulations; both of which will guide the development of our City for the next decade. Thanks to the work of a collective of some twenty Gatineau residents’ associations, of which we are a part of, the revised and approved Plan has been significantly improved since the start of the consultations in February 2020. Indeed, we find more ambitious objectives for the protection of wetlands and forest cover as well as a stronger desire to develop complete living environments i.e.: where residents can find all the local services that they need nearby, whether these services are private or public.
One of the main orientations of the Plan is to increase densification in order to counter urban sprawl, which as we know, causes high deployment costs for various municipal services (for example, water and sewer services).
For our neighborhood, there are few changes. The promoter’s requests to construct buildings higher than 10 stories (up to 25 stories) for the ‘Ambassades Champlain’ project were refused. Our request to combine the unbuilt lot on Aylmer Road, and belonging to the City, (just west of the Bellevue cemetery) with the Atholl Doune Park just to the south, also belonging to the City, was not retained; also our request to limit the number of stories to 3, instead of 5, allowed on the land where the McConnell Farm is located was not retained. These issues will have to be closely monitored over the next few years.
Finally, our neighborhood, like some other similar ones, is identified in the Plan as being a ‘Secteur d’exception’ i.e. not connected to municipal water and sewer services. The Plan provides for evaluating the possibility of eventually serving these sectors by 2031 as well as the possibility of allowing some densification. So, while there is nothing specific for the moment, it is another issue to monitor in the future.
We therefore invite you to consult the abundant documentation available on the City’s website. In addition, here is the link to a MaTv program on the new Plan which presents the point of view of an advisor, the APCHQ (‘Association des professionnels de la construction et de l’habitation du Québec’), and a representative of the collective of associations.
Do not hesitate to contact your association or your district councilor Mr. Duggan for any additional information. We are also considering the possibility of organizing a virtual information meeting with Mr. Duggan in the coming weeks.
Name proposal for District 5
On March 17, 2020, the city of Gatineau announces that due to the great demographic growth of our sector, a new district will be created in the Aylmer sector.
This new district has been assigned number 5, but does not yet have a name. For historical reasons as well as the use of the Champlain name in so many projects in our area, we propose that this district be named the Champlain District.
Going back in our beautiful country’s history, Samuel de Champlain explored our region in May 1613 for the purpose of discovering a passage towards Hudson Bay and it is on this famous trip that Champlain lost his astrolabe, that he was discovered near Cobden, about 100 km upstream on the Ottawa River.
It was in 1924 that we paid homage to Samuel de Champlain by building the Champlain Bridge which touches the limit of new district number 5. This bridge, which was rebuilt in 2002, is probably the most used bridge by residents of our district. The street that gives access to the bridge is also called Place Samuel de Champlain.
The Champlain name has also significantly influenced our sector in the choice of development name made by various promoters for over fifty years. There is Champlain Park, established in 1967, which includes street names influenced by the life of Samuel de Champlain. For example, we find rue Hélène Boulé, wife of Champlain, rue Brouage, native town of Champlain, Port Royal, the first colony established in Nova Scotia by Champlain, etc.
It was in the 1980s that the developers pursued new developments such as the Manoirs de Champlain adjacent to Champlain Park and also the Domaine Champlain, which was established at the western limit of district number 5.
It is only recently that major developers continue the tradition with the introduction of the urban village Ambassade de Champlain. This new sector, in the center of district number 5, also includes street names linked to the life of Samuel de Champlain such as Bonne Renommée, the name of the ship that Champlain used on his first transatlantic voyage to America, later to be called New France.
Finally, the name of Champlain also occupies a space in our recreational activities, particularly for the magnificent multifunctional trail of the Champlain Corridor. Let’s not forget the Champlain golf club located in the center of district number 5.
The Champlain name is therefore already firmly established in our sector, and it seems obvious to us that the new district number 5 should have this name, any other name would only be a distant choice of the image of our sector.
On February 5th, the city announced that our proposal would not be retained by the toponymy committee and the name that will be proposed to the city council will be Mitigomijokan districk. Download the communique
Meeting minutes
The board of directors decided at its last meeting, to post the minutes of the monthly meetings on its website in order to better inform the residents. We would like to point out that these minutes are very succinct summaries of the discussions and cannot reflect all details and nuances of the subjects discussed. Most of them will be published in French. To facilitate the task of board’s volunteers, we invite residents to use the translation tools available on the internet if needed. If members wish to obtain clarification on a subject and/or a decision, we invite them to contact the association at: [email protected].