A tower of 26 floors, is being built next to her home

Photo Catherine Montambeault
The site, which is set in motion on the boulevard Lévesque West, Laval is eight inches from the house of Huguette Gagné-Leclair (center). In the photo, she is accompanied by her daughter Dominique Leclair and spouse, François Lapalme.

Catherine Montambeault

Saturday, 15 July, 2017 08:00

UPDATE
Saturday, 15 July, 2017 08:00

Look at this article

An octogenarian Laval has had to say goodbye to the tranquility of his abode since the construction of a high-rise building of 26 floors has set in motion a few meters from her home.

“When they started to dig in, it frightened me. The mud that revole around the noise all day… It’s something, ” says Huguette Gagné-Leclair air overwhelmed.

There are only a few weeks, a dense wooded area bordered the house where lives the lady for 55 years, at the corner of boulevard des Prairies, and 61st Avenue. But since mid-June, the trees have been replaced by excavators and piles of metal.

A residence for the elderly of 210 apartments, which will become the tallest tower in Laval, should be erected by September 2018.

“There will be irreversible damage on the quality of life of my mother,” laments the daughter of Mrs. Won-Leclair, Dominique Leclair, raised his voice to cover the noise outside.

“Already, it intends to draw from 7 am to 9 pm in the evening, even on Saturday. The house is shaking all over. “

In spite of everything, Huguette Gagné-Leclair did not want to leave her house.

“I don’t know what I’ll do. Even if I wanted to sell it, nobody wants to buy with that next, ” she said, pointing to the location of the future tower.

The Laval resident is also the owner of a second house, located just in front of it. As one of the two tenants who lived there has moved, she is worried not to find a person to replace it because of work.

Ms. Won-Leclair says that the builder of the tower have offered him $ 800,000 to its land and two buildings, whose total market value is estimated to be approximately$1.6 Million.

This information has, however, been denied by the spokesperson of Quadrax & Associés, Jean-Maurice Duddin.

Grumbling

The lady of 80 years is far from the only one to be inconvenienced by the project called Equinox.

Some sixty residents of the condominium complex to The Sea, located on the other side of the yard, have also expressed their discontent at the city council, of 4 July.

The mayor of Laval, Marc Demers, was then declared not to be of” legal basis ” to refuse the erection of the new housing tower.

“People are not happy at all, and I think it is very understandable, said Scott Ross, director at the Maritime. All the more that we have a lot of questions, but no response on the part of the City. “

The mayor has agreed to meet with citizens at an information session dedicated to the project, which will be held this Monday.

Compliance standards

According to the City of Laval, the project Equinox complies with the municipal standards, since a building permit was issued in December 2016, which was prior to the height of the buildings in this sector of Chomedey be limited to 15 storeys, in march 2017.

It is the latest project developed under the rules of the system of urban planning inherited from the era of the ex-mayor Gilles Vaillancourt.

“The developer is within his rights,” says François Brochu, director of public relations at the office of the mayor Demers.

“He has done things in good and due form, according to standards that were current at that time. You can’t go back. “