Cavendish extension left out of master plan for Hippodrome-Namur

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The extension of Cavendish Blvd. is not seen as a priority for the redevelopment of the Namur-Hippodrome sector.

Montreal unveiled its master plan for the abandoned horse-racing track Friday morning. It envisions up to 20,000 new housing units — half of them on the 46-hectare former racetrack. The neighbourhood will also have schools, a library, health-care institutions, a public square and an outdoor marketplace. The vision for Hippodrome-Namur also calls for village-type developments, whereby housing units are connected with logistical hubs, where underground parking will be reserved for residents. Roughly half the neighbourhood would be reserved for affordable and social-housing units.

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Surprisingly, however, is that after working to put forward a project to connect Cavendish in Côte-St-Luc to the sector, there is no mention of an extension. The continuation of Cavendish has been seen as a vital link for those already living in Côte-St-Luc and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce to give them easier access to Namur métro station.

Links to other neighbourhoods have been strategically left out of the master plan. Instead, the main access to the new neighbourhood will be Jean-Talon St., which is to be transformed as a hub of urban mobility. The city envisions a tramway along that street, which would connect to the Namur station and go as far as the planned REM Canora station as well as future stations along the metro’s Blue Line extension toward Anjou.

Jean-Talon is being transformed into a Réseau express vélo, where there will be protected bicycle paths running along the street — one of the longest on the island of Montreal.

The plan appears to only include the north end of Cavendish Blvd., which would serve as the northwestern extremity of the new neighbourhood. Maps for the new area show that Jean-Talon St. would veer significantly north, ending at a connection close to Paré St. The document also references reducing car traffic through the neighbourhood by limiting the interconnections. There is no mention in the document of linking both ends of Cavendish.

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Speaking to The Gazette Thursday, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante confirmed that the priority for Cavendish is to hook it up to Jean-Talon.

“Cavendish will happen,” Plante said, “and there are different phases, but the first phase is: How do we bring public transit?”

She added that the link to Cavendish in Côte-St-Luc still has to be negotiated with Canadian Pacific, which owns a rail yard in the area.

Côte-St-Luc councillor Dida Berku said in an email that the Cavendish extension from Côte-St-Luc must be a priority and should be done before any new housing units are built.

“Decarie/Jean Talon can’t be the only access,” she wrote. “We have to start with Cavendish NOW and open up the area, so there is a roadbed that will accept a tramway along with bikes AND cars. People need to work. They need to be connected to centres of employment in T.M.R. and St-Laurent, so they need to create transport options to Côte-De-Liesse and Cavendish to Sud-Ouest.”

She added that the city needs to consider a north-south access to the sector, and to connect it with surrounding neighbourhoods.

“Dreaming of 20,000 housing units can’t just rely on tramways and bikes,” she added. “They need a roadway for access. It’s obvious. They need Cavendish first. They need roads to transport people, merchandise and supplies. To build a truly vibrant neighbourhood, it has to be connected to all the neighbourhoods and centres of employment around it.”

jmagder@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jasonmagder

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