Tramway: A large wooded area and wetlands destroyed in the Chaudière sector

A wooded area of ​​nearly 11 hectares, including 8 hectares of wetlands, will be destroyed in the Chaudière sector to accommodate the tramway project.

Tramway: A large wooded area and wetlands destroyed in the Chaudière sector

A wooded area of ​​nearly 11 hectares, including 8 hectares of wetlands, will be destroyed in the Chaudière sector to accommodate the tramway project. The City of Quebec is committed to compensating the affected communities.

• Read also: The 3rd link must be better for the environment, according to Quebec business people

• Read also: Tramway: Ottawa demands more details on additional costs

The Project Office took stock, on Tuesday, of the location of the future Operations and Maintenance Center (CEE) with a size of six football pitches and the developments that will be carried out throughout the Chaudière cluster.

The huge garage, next to the IKEA, will be able to house the 36 trains of the future tram (the figure could vary slightly). Its construction, which will begin next year, should last between 24 and 30 months, perhaps even 36 months.

It alone will require the deforestation of 5.2 hectares. Many trees will also be sacrificed in the Montée Mendel (area of ​​2.8 hectares), on the land that will host the future Parc-O-Bus (1.7 hectares) as well as the exchange hub and the cycle-pedestrian path (1.3 hectares).

Environmental authorizations

The City says it has already obtained all the necessary environmental authorizations – or almost – to proceed with the deforestation and decontamination work which will begin this year.

Its private partner, which will be selected following a call for tenders for the construction of the infrastructure, will also have to obtain various authorizations from the Ministry of the Environment in the coming years, as the work progresses. .

The acquisition of all the targeted lots in the sector is almost complete, with the exception of land belonging to Cominar, which is subject to an expropriation procedure.

The City already owned several sites in the area, including a former dump, to accommodate the CEE, identified as the “heart of the project” by the director of the tramway project office, Daniel Genest.

Other trees replanted in Cap-Rouge

Even if it is not legally required to do so, the City has undertaken to replant the equivalent of the areas that will have to be razed. She does not know the number of trees, in total, that will have to be felled.

“The individual count of trees in a wooded area is extremely dangerous and difficult to do. That’s why we talk about area, hence the compensation mechanism of one hectare for one hectare,” said François Trudel, director of the Department of Land Use Planning and the Environment.

The Marchand administration also undertakes to increase its canopy target in the Chaudière sector to 35% (compared to 25% currently) and to 50% in the Cap-Rouge district (whereas it currently stands at 39% ).

As for the destruction of wetlands, deemed inevitable, these will be compensated up to $5 million by the City, which will pay this sum to the Ministry of the Environment, as provided for in the Environment Quality Act. The compensation will be used to finance the Program for the restoration and creation of wetlands and bodies of water.

NEXT NEWS