The city of Lac-Delage is petitioning the Supreme Court to force Empire 47, a mountain bike center well known by enthusiasts across Quebec, to comply with municipal regulations.
The lawsuit also concerns the Manoir du Lac-Delage and the Immeubles des Monts, which lease land on the E47.
According to the original application, E47 and the other two companies make derogatory use of the site, which is detrimental to the environment and safety in the community, particularly due to “monster traffic”. It is also claimed that E47 is breaking regulations by conducting work illegally.
A press release from the town of Lac-Delage, issued this morning, notes that the upgrading of trails can destroy vegetation and cause erosion that transports particles towards the waterways and catchment area. Water from Lake Saint Charles.
The latter serves 300,000 Quebec City residents.
Rapid growth
E47 was founded in 2014 and sees itself as a non-profit organization. It operates summer and winter mountain bike trails in the Lac-Delage, Stoneham-et-Tewksbury and Quebec City areas. Although most of the trails are outside the Lac-Delage area, most of the access is at her home.
From 23,000 visitors in 2017 to 127,000 in 2021, traffic continues to grow, creating great excitement.
In 2017, and then three times in 2020, the city of Lac-Delage allowed the creation of temporary facilities, ie additions to its reception building that had become too small. These were to last two years and in early 2018 E47 unveiled a $1.4 million project to develop a new reception building in the Stoneham-et-Tewksbury area.
This building was never built and the increased traffic on the E47 is creating too much road traffic in the heart of the Lac-Delage parish, the press release says. The pressure on the sanitary facilities is also a problem.
Big impact
In addition, the municipality believes that E47 violates land use regulations that allow only low-impact recreational activities.
“E47’s activities go well beyond the low-impact category, particularly because they target a national and international clientele,” the lawsuit states, adding that the vast majority of the site’s users are from outside the Quebec region come from
The city of Lac-Delage says it never wanted E47’s activities to end. She has attempted to negotiate with the organization on numerous occasions in recent years to ensure compliance with her regulations.
“In good faith, we initially trusted the organization by authorizing the creation of temporary facilities, deviating from our regulations, to allow its operations to start,” explains Guy Rochette, mayor of the town of Lac-Delage, regretting that E47 no longer plans to construct its reception building in Stoneham as planned.
Faced with the refusal to cooperate, Lac-Delage asked the court to order the demolition or removal of the non-compliant structures and the restoration of the site.
“Given the past weekends and the tremendous traffic in the city, with no measures to reduce the number of vehicles in the parking lot, not to mention the illegal work being done on new tracks, we have no choice but to leave.” I’m leading the Lawsuit reluctantly continues, the mayor continues. In order for our city to remain a jewel of nature, our lake to remain healthy, justice to be ensured and the quality of life and safety of all people to be maintained, this is the only decision that needs to be made. »
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