There goes the neighbourhood

>> Dairy plant expansion turns West-End locals sour

by GEMMA WILSON

It's a familiar story: residents in a cozy suburb resenting the noise and bother of urban development. But in this case the problem is literally in their backyards.

"We can expect to have some 200 trucks a day coming from this plant, starting at four o'clock in the morning, all within 30 feet of our homes," said Anne Boyer, head of the NDG West Resident's Committee.

The project in question is the proposed development of the Sealtest plant at the western end of St-Jacques. Parmalat Canada plans to expand the site, which borders on residential areas in Montreal-West and NDG, as well as renovate the Salvation Army's abandoned Eventide Home, adjacent to the plant. The aim is to create a 24-hour distribution centre for the company's dairy products, which include Sealtest, Beatrice and Lactancia.

"We aren't against economic development, but we don't see how they are going to respect noise and pollution levels," said Boyer. At a Feb. 15 meeting at Montreal's City Hall, Parmalat put forward a modified proposal in response to local concerns. Among many changes, Parmalat promised to turn the Eventide home into a recreational centre for employees instead of demolishing it, and place "silencers" on noisy air vents.

Opponents unimpressed

But opponents were unimpressed. "The changes, as best we could realize, were merely cosmetic," said Howard Barza, Montreal-West's Commissioner for Public Safety.

According to Barza, one of several remaining problems was the planned paving over of a 50-year-old community garden, which provides fresh vegetables for the NDG Food Depot.

Jeremy Searle, opposition councillor for the Loyola district and member of Montreal's Urban Development Commission, told the Mirror: "I can't think of any other project that has had as much improvement done to it."

Searle asserts that the residents should have done more to pressure the Salvation Army not to sell the Eventide Home, as the church could lose donations if perceived to be behaving badly. "I offered to go to Toronto to help push the Sally Ann, but not one resident wanted to go with me," he said. "I also tried to get locals to sign a petition to be presented to the Salvation Army last summer. Do you know how many signatures I got? Three!"

But even Searle accepts that the plan as it exists is "horrible". "There's no sound barrier in the world which could stop the noise of those beeping trucks," he told the Mirror.

Meeting last Saturday at Montreal-West's town hall, parents and children came out to put together a poster campaign to oppose the pro-ject, a final push to let city officials know how they feel before the project is put to the zoning committee sometime in April. Recently, a large billboard saying "Respect Your Neighbours" has been erected near the site, and 100 residents are threatening legal action against Parmalat.

"This project will be a total nightmare," Barza said. "It is fundamentally wrong to have development which is tantamount to an industrial park in a residential area." :

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