After the Mont-Sainte-Anne station, it is the turn of the Stoneham ski station, also managed by the RCR group, to receive the visit of the Régie du Bâtiment inspectors.
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On Friday, the Régie ordered the closure of all MSA ski lifts with the exception of two school slopes. The station has been closed since the accident on December 10, when a gondola crashed.
While acknowledging that a decision like that for the Mont-Sainte-Anne ski center could be “quite dramatic”, the Mayor of Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury remains optimistic.
“The operational sounds at RCR from the people I spoke to last Friday are positive. These people trust the maintenance they perform at the facility level. Until proven otherwise, I think this is an inspection that should have been carried out in the current context, but should show that they did the right thing based on what we told me at RCR,” Sébastien reacted Couture, Mayor of Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury.
The municipality is in contact with the organisation, in particular with the site operations manager.
“Right now I feel reassured,” added the mayor.
The Régie du Bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) made a “brief visit” and meeting with officials in Stoneham last week.
“Therefore, the field checks for all lifting platforms will be carried out this week from today. [lundi]said Sylvain Lamothe, spokesman for the RBQ.
Request a meeting with Fitzgibbon
“Like many others, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for what will come out of the Régie,” continued Mr. Couture.
At the moment we do not know how long the Mont-Sainte-Anne train station will be closed. If the cessation of activity were extended it would certainly result in higher traffic in Stoneham, the Mayor calculates.
A traffic light has already been added on Hibou Road by the former city government to ensure more safety for road users.
“Our DNA is still leisure tourism. The station has been around for a long time. We need to organize to handle this influx.”
Mr. Couture wants the resort to develop a four-season offering.
“We would like that. We will also present certain plans to the government soon. We have ideas. We have to analyze that and see how we can improve things.
lack of dynamism
Mr. Couture “can’t say unequivocally that he’s happy with RCR’s momentum in terms of the channel’s development.”
“What I would like is a meeting with Minister Fitzgibbon and the Minister responsible for the nation’s capital to set out our concerns and expectations. In fact, it is in the hands of the government that the decision regarding the operators of the two mountains lies.
“We also know that one day if there’s a transaction in Sainte-Anne, Stoneham can be there too, but we have something special that they don’t have on the Côte-de-Bowsprit. The land at Stoneham is owned by the current operators.”
“It’s not like Sainte-Anne with SÉPAQ. So the government has little scope for better control. We will not hide, what worries me most is the context of the watershed, which forces us to have a very different style of development than the Côte-de-Beaupré currently.
Recovery through real estate development cannot be viewed in the same way, the mayor said.
“We’re at the head of the pool. These are steeply sloping areas. In that respect we are concerned. We’re not against development, but we want it to be in harmony and face up to the music we’ve had to respond to for a number of years.
Mr. Couture assures that the community is exploring options that have never been put on the table.
“I am very confident that we can put these ideas to good use in government thinking,” he added.
No date has been set for this meeting at this time.
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