Mayoral incumbent alone on green space issue in Ste. Anne

Ste. Anne de Bellevue's mayoral incumbent Bill Tierney was the only candidate in the town's election to call for some development on a 64-hectare piece of green space during a meet-the-candidates night organized by the Co-op du Grand Orme eco-store last Wednesday, standing alone among a group of council hopefuls who all want to protect the land .

"This is not something that we invented," Tierney said to an environmentally-minded audience after rising to speak following testaments from two council hopefuls suggesting the area be protected completely. "This policy was developed at the same time as the Montreal Urban Plan," he said.

Tierney warned that stopping the development of a condo project approved by the last elected council on those 19 hectares would represent a loss of $2.3 million annually in taxes for the city, as well as a one-time loss of $560,000 in park taxes.

He also said that cancelling the project would mean only 770 new residents would be able to move into Ste. Anne, as opposed to the 1920 the project would allow.

Tierney proposed instead the building of a "zero-energy" condo project on the lot, based on a model home in Hudson that he said produces its own energy. "Montreal is very interested in this idea," he said.

Still, the incumbent earned only restrained applause as he moved back to his seat in the basement of the St. Georges Anglican Church, where the event took place.

Many challengers to council seats, and Tierney's rival Francis Deroo, proved more popular that night as they spoke of preserving the land, though none presented an absolutely clear vision of how they would go about achieving this, or how it could bring in revenue to the city.

"We have to protect this green space," Deroo, a financial manager for Maple Leaf Foods Inc., said of the area. "It's a unique opportunity for Ste. Anne," he added.

For Paola Hawa, a lawyer who is making her bid for District 6 against two others, the lot represents an opportunity for Ste. Anne "to lead a new trend," that would allow the city to marry its need for progress with an environmental pre-occupation. She recalled taking her daughter for walks in the industrial sector seven years ago when they had just moved into town, and seeing "only two buildings" back then, along with lots of wandering deer.

Ryan Young, a John Abbott College teacher who has run for the Green Party both provincially and federally in the West Island and has now set his sights on District 2,

said the plan approved by the previous council shows a lack of "environmental pre-occupation."

Young reminded the audience Ste. Anne is "the only municipality in the area not voting for a park."

Beaconsfield is trying to protect Angell Woods, he said, and Pierrefonds/Roxboro is trying to do the same with its section of l'Anse à L'Orme as well as the Cap. St. Jacques nature park.

Speaking to reporters after the debate, Tierney said Ste. Anne can simply not afford then

If these protected areas were to be combined with a completely protected section of the L'Anse à L'Orme woods in Ste. Anne, Young and other environmentalists maintain, it would result in the creation of the biggest regional park on the Island of Montreal. At 800 hectares, it would actually be more than double the size of Central Park in New York, which accounts for 341.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tierney said the city could simply not afford the loss that not developing those 19 hectares represented. "Good luck," he said to visions of his opponents to somehow create a revenue stream for the town despite preserving them.

Tierney also said he would not mind seeing protection for the park as long as the revenue loss is shared by all cities in the agglomeration council rather than Ste. Anne. That would mean the city would only lose $40,000 a year rather than $2.3 million, he said.

"I want to share that with Beaconsfield, and Pointe Clare, and the other areas," he said.

Notaby absent from the meeting were any among the council incumbents who had voted for the development plan alongside with Tierney.

Hopefuls Jay Van Wagner, Cédric Filteau, and James Anderson, as well as Gerry Lavigne, who was newly elected to District 3 by acclamation, also rose to defend the preservation of the green space, although Lavigne and Anderson said they were in favour of some development.