As many people have noticed by now, Côte Saint-Luc has started work on the reconstruction of the parking lot behind the City Hall and Library. We're doing more than just repaving. We're improving the way it's configured in order to remove the excessive turns, which create risks for pedestrians. We're also adding two charging stations for electric vehicles, a bike path and creating more parking spaces for cars to park.
We have been fortunate to have a parking lot with so many trees not just around the edges but within the parking lot itself. Our goal at the start of this project was to save as many of these trees as possible by transplanting them elsewhere. We are saving approximately 70 percent of the trees and have transplanted 28.
Of course, we would have preferred to have saved all the trees. However, of trees that are being cut their roots were too deep to survive transplant or to small to justify the cost while new trees can be planted of similar size or they were sick or damaged in some way. It didn't make sense to move the sick trees as the cost to transplant a single tree is about $2,000. We decided to transplant the healthy trees, which cost $53,000 in all. All the trees being cut will be replaced with new replanted trees.
To sum up:
-We will have a new, safer parking lot ;
-We saved approximately 70 percent of the trees in the existing parking lot;
–We will replant new trees for all those that were cut;
-We will have two electrical charging stations for electric cars;
-We transplanted 28 trees of the old trees from the parking lot to locations across the city.
This lot was in desperate need of repair. How many people, the majority seniors and those with limited mobility, have we heard from in recent years complaining about the fact they could not find a spot when attending special events?
As for the benches that many people congregate on, I have now received confirmation that a crew move the seven benches along the path on the south side of City Hall and have them placed east of the parking in the area between Sir Walter Scott and Marc Chagall to provide seating for the residents of the area. They will be placed under some shade as much as possible. If necessary, special umbrellas will be added.
I want to thank the residents who contacted myself and the mayor for their valuable input.
