(Quebec) Developers in the capital will no longer be required to provide parking spaces in their new projects. The measure adopted Tuesday should stimulate construction and promote sustainable mobility in Quebec, but an opposition elected official fears that it will “force” people to take public transport.
“We have the opportunity to accelerate housing projects. When we come to say that the storage of vehicles prevents the storage of humans, we must redefine priorities. There, we come to give priority to people, to housing,” said Mayor Bruno Marchand’s right-hand man, Pierre-Luc Lachance, to the municipal council on Tuesday evening.
Until now, a municipal by-law required developers to provide a minimum number of parking spaces. This minimum threshold ranged from 0.5 to 1.2 boxes per dwelling. Developers who did not comply with the standard had to pay compensation to the City.
The new regulation adopted by a majority on Tuesday evening provides for the pure and simple abolition of the threshold in the densest parts of Quebec, where public transport options exist.
Only one party, Équipe Priorité Québec, voted against the amendment to the regulation. Quebec lacks parking spaces, proclaimed councillor Stevens Mélançon.
“It’s all well and good, promoting public transportation, but you can’t force your future tenants to take it,” he says. It’s like saying to a landlord: you can build housing, but future tenants can’t have cars. »
The two other opposition parties supported the modification presented by the administration of Mayor Bruno Marchand.
“Do we want housing or parking? I think the choice is clear,” argued the head of Transition Québec, Jackie Smith.
The Urban Development Institute of Quebec (IDU), an organization bringing together major Quebec players in the real estate industry, welcomes the decision of the City of Quebec. The IDU has been asking for a decade for this regulation to be reviewed.
“There are very few cities in Quebec that have made this bet. Quebec would even be the first major city in the province,” says Mr. Dion. In Montreal, certain boroughs have also abandoned parking ratios, including Ville-Marie, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest and Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. The Plante administration, however, proposes to remove these ratios entirely from its 2050 Urban Planning and Mobility Plan project, currently under study.
Citizens are concerned about the availability of on-street parking with the new measure. Mr. Dion clarifies that abandoning the minimums does not mean that developers will stop building spaces overnight. But it will be on a case-by-case basis.
“There’s the climate crisis and there’s the housing crisis. If we want more housing, and Quebec City wants 80,000 more by 2040, we must remove the obstacles. »
During a recent City public consultation on the regulatory change, a citizen in favor of change gave a telling example.
“I remember a housing tower project at the Sainte-Foy CEGEP,” the lady said. For 172 housing units on a college campus, the developer had to build 130 parking spaces. When we know that it is students who live there, and that buses pass there, I found it exaggerated. »