Taking on trucks

>> Mile-End battles to protect community garden

By WAYNE HILTZ

A quasi-enclosed fence surrounds about 70 neatly laid-out plots of land that aspiring gardeners hope to till next spring. But there is an odd gap in the fence. It opens onto a 100- by 20-foot area that City of Montreal crews recently covered with gravel.

Situated near Henri-Julien and Maguire, that gravelled surface represents an unlikely battle-line in the Mile-End district, pitting community garden advocates against Bonavista Fabrics, a neighbouring clothing factory. Many residents want to keep intact as much land as possible for their green project, while the manufacturer wants to keep using it for access to its loading docks.

Though the city owns the land on both sides of the fence, the fact that it shows signs of wanting to pave over the smaller parcel leaves some residents wondering which side the city is on.

Before Mayor Bourque promised to support the community garden project during the 1998 election campaign, the city's Service des parcs, jardins et espaces verts had slotted that property for a condo project. "They're ready to sacrifice almost 10 per cent [and 10 lots] of the community garden's surface for a loading area," comments nearby resident Eric St-Pierre. "If a developer had bought that land, he would have said 'tough luck' and not ceded an inch."

But it seems to be another story with citizens' demands for a community garden. St-Pierre feels that the city is a little too willing to negotiate with Bonavista Fabrics, who refused the Mirror's request for an interview.

Mile-End city councillor Helen Fotopulos is angered at the city's concession. Especially since the city kicked in more than half the $700,000 needed to decontaminate the former industrial property that it bought in 1976. "It's going to be the most expensive community garden in the world," says Fotopulos, who helped get the community garden project off the ground several years ago. "And now we're putting in gravel and giving over some land for parking and turning about. Give me a break!"

Neither Mile-End nor the neighbouring Laurier district have a community garden in their concrete-dominated area as yet, but the city department responsible for parks and green spaces says that allowances need to be made. "We have to find a way that the company can still be in operation, but without using the city's land because we now have a garden there," says Parks department's Claudette Lalonde. That responsibility belongs to executive committee member Paolo Tamburello, head of the parks department. Looking at his handling of the community garden so far, St-Pierre comments that Tamburello seems to head the economic development and not the parks department.

Meanwhile, the city's legal department cannot demonstrate that Bonavista Fabrics have any acquired rights on the disputed land. Resident Martin Audet asserts that the company has steadfastly refused to consider any alternative loading method, probably due to cost concerns.

Earlier this year, Mayor Bourque promised to help the company rearrange its loading area, and at last month's council meeting the mayor promised to personally look into it with an assurance that residents will be pleased with the proposed solution, to be announced next week.

But critics remain skeptical, saying that a decision may already be set in concrete. Says Audet, "With the fence posts and a sewer grate already set in place, and the gravel put down--we feel that the decision has practically been taken."

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