Thoughts on developing Blue Bonnets
A Le Devoir writer ponders the development of Blue Bonnets and whether the city will take up the challenge of creating a real, livable neighbourhood, while coping with the traffic issues that could plague an area so close to the Decarie autoroute.
Robert J 13:02 on 2012/04/23 Permalink
I don’t think you can create a neighborhood from scratch. But either way, I prefer older housing stock, so I won’t end up there…
Charles 16:02 on 2012/04/23 Permalink
I find that Montreal is really bad at designing neighbourhoods or extensions (and I agree with Robert J, you can’t really create a neighborhood from scratch). For example, the development at the Angus yards: it’s copy and paste buildings (I find it really depressing, I don’t how people live there), there’s a huge park on the side instead of integrating smaller parks throughout the neighbourhood, there’s no small commercial space not even for a depanneur, etc. The same thing was done near the Claude-Robillard sports complex, in Petite-Bourgogne, etc. I’m sure housing developers prefer that kind of construction but the city should be more firm on those issues.
Kate 05:35 on 2012/04/24 Permalink
I totally agree with you about the Angus infill neighbourhood, Charles. But we used to know how to construct neighbourhoods. Between 90 and 100 years ago streetcars were extended through what’s now Villeray and Rosemont and viable neighbourhoods grew up around the streetcars and beyond.
The problem with these new 100% residential neighbourhoods that we build now is glaring: they’re suburbs, functionally, meaning if you live there you’re pretty much stuck with driving if you so much as want a newspaper or a litre of milk. The infill neighbourhood built just east of the Old Port is also like this. It’s just condo buildings. Not even a dépanneur, much less the kind of mixture of shops and services you’d get along streets like Wellington, Mont-Royal, Masson. And forget schools, clinics and other social services. Drive, baby, drive.
Maybe this is naive, but time was the city allowed different owners to construct mixed-use buildings, at least along the main axis streets – zoning controlled the heights of the buildings for some amount of uniformity, but allowing variation. Is that impossible now? Does the city have to hand over whole areas en bloc to single developers, who then build uniform residential buildings and nothing else?
Kevin 07:09 on 2012/04/24 Permalink
Griffintown and Bois Franc are examples of new neighbourhoods that suck balls.
If you aren’t building a mixed-used neighbourhood, you’re being stupid.
Charles 08:24 on 2012/04/24 Permalink
I’m pretty sure the city could design these new neighbourhoods (placement of parks, stores, etc) and give an idea of the permitted building volumes than hand over parts of them to different developers. I’m sure the developers wouldn’t like it since it would cut into their profits. I think the whole thing has more to do with political financing and the annoying tendency to hire private sector people for public sector high level jobs then bad urban design.