In what is poised to be a challenging vote to see pass, Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin said she’s holding firm on her pledge to get Azilda land zoned as parkland.
Specifically, the institutionally zoned land to the immediate north of the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre which the city has earmarked to house affordable housing.
On April 30, the city hosted a community meeting in Azilda to share their proposed plan and receive public feedback at a casual drop-in style meeting.
Instead, more than 100 people showed up to voice their staunch opposition to the project.
Near the close of this meeting, Fortin publicly pledged, “I will do everything I can do to kill this.”
Fortin reaffirmed this sentiment in conversation with Sudbury.com this week, noting that although she sees merits and pitfalls to the two options (maintaining the land as-is and proceeding with the development), she believes maintaining the land to be the right thing to do.
On top of that, she’d work to rezone it as a park so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.
“My job is to follow the majority,” she said. “I’m the voice of the community, and this is what the community is voicing loud and clear. … I got my marching orders, and I will do my best to get it across the goalpost.”
Fortin is working on a motion to this effect, which she plans on tabling for city council consideration as early as their May 27 meeting.
It will be a difficult motion to have passed.
Since city council members already voted in favour of earmarking the land as part of a landbanking strategy for affordable housing, Fortin’s motion will be a reconsideration.
Reconsiderations require a two-thirds majority vote to be discussed and voted on.
The planning committee of city council was unanimous in including the land in the city’s land banking efforts on May 27, 2024, and a unanimous vote of city council as a whole ratified this decision the following evening.
Although Fortin was among those who voted in favour of including the lands for affordable housing during both votes, it was with the proviso that recreational space be maintained.
Municipal staff followed through on this pledge.
In the conceptual drawings on display during last week’s community meeting at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre, five housing complexes with 40 units apiece were pictured at the northern end of the property to show what staff described as the greatest density residents could expect.
Between these buildings and the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre, the drawings included three practice fields for soccer and one full-sized regulation soccer field.
This, Fortin said, would have been an improvement upon what is already there.
“Right now, kids play soccer in the football field, and then in the great big field they have a smaller practice field for smaller kids,” she said. “It’s not really soccer fields they’re playing in right now, they’re just playing in big fields.”
A circular track would have been replaced by a public path running throughout the property, and there’d be the potential for a developer to pay for the addition of a cement pad to the outdoor skating rink, which would remain in place where it is.
The developer would also be required to add sidewalks and could enter into a cost-sharing arrangement with the city to improve Montée Principale, Fortin said. Although a stretch of Montée Principale to the north of Municipal Road 35 has been fast-tracked for road rehabilitation work, the stretch in front of the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre isn’t on the city’s current short-term capital plan.
Fortin also said that the city working to improve the area’s recreation amenities would help strengthen their case in securing funding from senior levels of government for the long-discussed Azilda pool project also proposed to take shape at the property.
“It seemed like a lot of bonuses to give up a section of the land to have housing everyone wants and needs, but it was not well-received by the public,” Fortin said.
“I was saddened to see how upset people were, but I do get it,” she said. “It is a park. It’s not zoned a park, but it is a park. … I think there was a lot to be gained by (the proposal), but I understand not wanting to lose green space, because once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
Although Community Action Networks are politically neutral, Azilda Community Action Network co-chair Lindsay Laur said it’s “great news” to see Fortin advocate on behalf of residents.
“That greenspace is a lot more than just a park, it’s a safe spot for kids to learn to ride their bike, it’s a safe spot for mothers with strollers and young kids who want to run,” she said.
There’s a community-led petition available for people to sign at Shannon’s Community Pharmacy to help show support behind Fortin’s effort, Laur said.
This situation has also drawn attention to a stretch of land north of the Dr. Edgar Leclair Community Centre and Arena in Azilda, which is also zoned institutional, Laur said. These lands include three baseball fields, a sports court and skate park. Similar to the Lionel E. Lalonde property, residents are petitioning the city to have the land around the arena rezoned as parkland.
If her motion proves successful, Fortin said she hopes another piece of land is available to accommodate a similar housing development, particularly seniors housing which the discussion around the Lionel E. Lalonde-area development was always centered on attracting.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.