However, it was blocked by the same council in January 2022 and then re-elected. At the time, industry consultant Laure Letarte-Lavoie reported numerous concerns and a lack of information about the project in the immediate vicinity. With the support of his colleagues at Sherbrooke Citoyen, the project was then withdrawn after a close vote in which a majority of independent elected officials would have preferred to move forward with the process.
However, almost two years later, the adoption of the resolution in the council did not cause any major waves and it was adopted unanimously at the meeting on November 7th. Ms. Letarte-Lavoie recalled that the organizer had since held a town hall meeting, which was essentially missing in the first version.
This communication work was carried out last year and made it possible to calm most of the concerns of citizens, she reported. A conclusion confirmed to La Tribune by the organizer Robin Fortier. “There are always people who remain against it, but in general the people in the assembly have a good understanding of the issues,” he commented.
Since the zoning currently allows for the construction of buildings with a maximum of four apartments, the creation of such a district would bring more new roads and traffic to the adjacent district. On the contrary, the two six-story buildings would provide a direct connection to King Street and take up less space on the wooded property. “We are preserving 45% of the vegetation cover and 100% of the wetlands on the site” as the project is currently on the table, assured Mr. Fortier.
The property in question borders King Est, du Verger, du Conseil and Laprise streets in the Hôtel-Dieu district. In addition to the six-story buildings, four apartment buildings with four residential units each are planned, making a total of 160 residential units. The project has not changed in depth since the rejected version.
So was it worth postponing this project for several months to achieve essentially the same result? “At the point I’m at today, we could say to ourselves, ‘It would have been fun if it had happened.’ [en 2022] and let’s not waste this time.” But in the context in which I arrived as a newly elected official, it was the right thing to do […] to ensure it is done well. Once you say yes, you can’t go back,” commented Ms. Letarte-Lavoie.
For his part, the project sponsor was not upset about the progress of the file and was even partly to blame for not informing the population further up. Although there are still several steps to go through and he cannot give a date for when work will begin, Robin Fortier says he now sees his project “on the right track”.