The City of La Prairie just Friday called for the halt to conversion work on the old local golf course into a real estate development after it was discovered the developer had cut down too many trees there.
Posted at 5:17pm
Philippe Teisceira-Lessard The press
The municipality raises La Prairie sur le Parc inc. for violating the conditions of his municipal permit. She gave him a ticket.
“The City of La Prairie issued a municipal site development permit certificate this past March pursuant to the Letter of Intent signed in March 2017. This certificate authorizes leveling and felling of trees,” said Dominique Beaumont, La Prairie communications director via email. According to her, 6 ponds and 200 trees could be removed.
“Unfortunately, the city planning department determined that the developer did not comply with the provisions of the certificate,” she continued. He felled more trees than he was allowed to. »
In a press release, the municipality adds that it has withdrawn its municipal eligibility certificate – a type of permit. “In this way, work on the site will no longer be authorized until the owner submits a new application for a permit certificate in good and orderly form,” La Prairie states. Should the work continue unlawfully, the City will take all necessary measures to ensure compliance with applicable municipal regulations. »
“It had to be,” says the promoter
Reached by phone, one of the promoter’s leaders, Serge Gariépy, did not dispute La Prairie’s claims.
“The entrepreneur got an area to do and obviously he did it. It turned out that there were maybe a few more trees than expected,” said Mr. Gariépy. He stated that trees were also felled to allow the machines that were supposed to fill the pools to pass. “It had to be done,” he said. “These are big machines. »
“It is not known exactly how many trees the contractor cut down,” he added.
This version of the facts is supported by his son Stéphane Gariépy, who is also involved in the La Prairie sur le Parc project.
In their opinion, the construction site can continue despite the interpretation of the situation by the municipality. “We have resumed work in accordance with the permit certificate issued by the city. The work that is currently being carried out is not illegal, we respect the permit deed,” Stéphane Gariépy said in a telephone interview.
The La Prairie Golf Course Restoration Project has been the subject of debate in La Prairie for many years. As of this week, the city had approved the completion of preparatory work on the property but reserved its final approval for housing construction.