Lives & Legacy

The small town of Vaudreuil sur le Lac has witnessed significant pushback by residents through the past few months over a proposed overhaul of its urban planning regulations, culminating with the town’s promise last month to pause the project and “return to the drawing board.”

Nearly six months after coming up short in her bid for mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Karine Lechasseur announced that she is stepping down as head of the municipal party Inspire Vaudreuil-Dorion late last month.

A dog in St. Lazare was been designated as “potentially dangerous” by the town council.

A noisy issue that has kept many residents up at night is being put to bed. Starting tomorrow, trains travelling through St. Lazare will no longer be required to blow their whistles at two level crossings adjacent to suburban neighbourhoods.

Starting next month, St. Lazare’s monthly town council meetings will include two question periods, providing an opportunity for residents to inquire about the resolutions raised at the meeting.

As the Town of St. Lazare gets set to begin work on a new $9.3-million park to provide a variety of recreational and sports facilities, municipal officials are asking residents to help choose a name for the planned public space.

Mounting pushback by car owners in the Montreal region against the tripling of vehicle registration fees received a boost last week when a petition was launched in the National Assembly by Vaudreuil MNA Marie-Claude Nichols.

The opening of this year’s Hudson Film Festival promises to be sweet!

JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report A bylaw aimed to prevent property owners in St. Lazare from letting buildings fall into disrepair has been narrowed in scope. Originally planned to apply to all buildings in town – including sheds, barns and detached garages – this legislation will now only apply to heritage buildings, commercial and industrial buildings, multi-residential buildings and buildings that have been vacant for more than three months. “The main complaint was that people were worried about how this would be applied and how it would affect them,” Mayor Geneviève Lachance said in an interview. “Now that we’ve removed all that, I think it will reassure people.” The bylaw, which was adopted at the March 10 council meeting, aims to ensure the structural maintenance of these buildings. The legislation gives the town the power to inspect the buildings and require the owners to repair any damage or deteriorating features of the structure. Owners who fail to comply risk facing thousands of dollars in fines. The original version of this bylaw, which had been tabled in February, had aimed to apply this standard to all buildings in St. Lazare, including single-family houses and any structures on private properties. Even old backyard sheds could have subjected to the requirements under this bylaw. The Quebec government requires municipalities adopt a bylaw on maintenance of local heritage buildings by April 1, but municipal councils have the option to expand this regulation beyond maintaining purely heritage structures.District 6 Councillor Lorraine Caron had denounced the broad scope of the initial version of the bylaw, being the only member on council to vote against it in February. “I thought there would be a social acceptability problem to subject all buildings” to this bylaw, said Caron, who voted in favour of the revised version last week. While she said she doesn’t perceive this issue as being especially pronounced in her district, Caron pointed to the fact that the town does not have an inventory of all buildings in the town. This, she said, would have presented an obstacle for municipal inspectors, who would have needed to investigate, verify and keep running tabs on each complaint they receive about any derelict building or structure. “Not to mention the hassle of having an inspector come to your home and tell you, ‘Well, you need to repair your roof, you need to repair your balcony, you need to repair your walls,’ and so on,” Caron added. A public consultation Feb. 24 saw several residents voice the same concerns as Caron. Some asked about a timeline for repairs, how low-income residents would be able to afford these repairs, and how it would be determined what qualifies as being dilapidated. This response from residents pushed the city to amend this bylaw, Lachance said.“We had a lot of debates internally about this to find the right solution. But I think it’s a good compromise for now.” Local Journalism Initiative You are unauthorized to view this page.

JOSHUA ALLAN
 The 1019 Report After setting the issue aside last month amid pushback from residents, Ste. Justine de Newton town council last week adopted the updated MRC-wide nuisance bylaw, a move that comes after a month of voiceful opposition from many residents and a few councillors in the small village to a bylaw they claim does not reflect realities of a rural community. “I think the residents were afraid of not being free on their properties or in their homes, but that’s not the case,” Mayor Shawn Campbell said in an interview with The 1019 Report. Some residents in Ste. Justine have taken issue with several articles within the harmonized bylaw, which has been adopted by town councils across the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region over the past month. Their worries mainly centre on articles banning the display of “erotic” or “hateful” content “in or on any public or private area;” a requirement to “immediately” remove all animal excrement from their property; prohibiting residents from having one or more inoperable vehicles on their property; and the ability for a municipal inspector or SQ officer to “visit and examine” properties in order to ensure compliance with the bylaw. As a small farming town, some locals have expressed concern that this bylaw does not match their rural reality and could leave them vulnerable to fines. The law exempts agricultural workers from some of the nuisances, but this exemption is only applied “in the course of their agricultural activities.” The legislation sets a harmonized standard on what is considered a nuisance across the 23 municipalities in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, facilitating operations for SQ officers. The bylaw is drafted by a committee of clerks and other representatives from all towns in the region. Town councils are free to choose not to adopt the legislation, though most do. Campbell took a moment during the March 10 council meeting to attempt to allay the concerns of his residents. This bylaw, he pointed out, has been in place across the region since 2009, and has had minor updates made over the years. The latest version of this bylaw is nearly identical to its previous version, which had been adopted in 2019. Campbell also wanted to make it clear that fines for nuisances — which range from $200 to $1,000 for a first offence — are rarely issued by SQ officers upon an initial visit. “Every time that an inspector or a police officer intervenes concerning a nuisance, there’s always an educational component,” he explained. “For example, you’re having a party, the music is loud (and) there’s a resident who complains because the music is loud. When the Sûreté du Québec shows up at your house, there will be an educational component where the police will explain that the noise is excessive.” “It’s very rare that a police officer or an inspector will issue a fine on the first visit,” Campbell continued. “There is always the educational component first; explain what happened, explain why it’s a nuisance, and if it’s recurring, after four, five times, for example, there can be a fine.” What’s more, he pointed out that instances of fines for nuisances in Ste. Justine have been few and far between since 2019. Since that time, there had been 13 fines for nuisances issued in the town. These have included instances of animals roaming free, excessive noise and one instance of a dog biting someone. Councillor Stéphane Lapointe has been outspoken in his criticism of this bylaw. To him, the fact that there have not been fines issued for the articles in the bylaw that residents take issue with reinforces the question of why these items are included in the legislation at all. “If there are so few complaints, then why do we need these regulations?” he said. Lapointe added that just because there haven’t been fines issued for things like the display of erotic content, uncollected animal excrement or residents keeping inoperable vehicles, does not mean they couldn’t be issued in the future. “Depending on the police officer who comes when there’s a complaint, depending on the neighbours that we have, people will see it like a Sword of Damocles,” he said, referencing the ancient Greek metaphor for an ever-looming threat. Lapointe had proposed amendments to the bylaw at the March 10 meeting, which would either remove or change parts. These proposed amendments were voted down by the council. Only District 3 councillor Jean Giroux-Gagné voted in favour. The council then proceeded with a vote to adopt the bylaw as-is, with only Lapointe and Giroux-Gagné voting against.Campbell does not believe fines for nuisances will be issued carelessly, explaining residents can contest unfair treatment. “If, for example, there’s an inspector that abuses (their power), the residents always have the means to issue a complaint to the municipality,” Campbell said. Local Journalism Initiative You are unauthorized to view this page.