During a meeting of city councillor Mike Cohen's District 2 Advisory Council held earlier this month, more than 50 residents listened to a presentation on the project given by developer Jerry Winikoff and architect Stephen Rotman.

Councillor Allan J. Levine, who is responsible for urban planning, noted that the land is presently zoned commercial. The Planning Advisory Committee feels that a town house complex would be an appropriate fit for the area, rather than a strip mall, an alternate use that has also come up as a suggestion.

Winikoff and Rotman, who brought drawings of what the completed project would look like, want to start work as soon as the winter is over. All the units would have four bedrooms, parking would be underground with two spots per home, and there would also be parking for visitors.

During the meeting, some residents expressed concern that the project would be located too close to high tension Hydro Quebec wires. While Winikoff dismissed suggestions this poses any sort of danger, a number of residents from nearby condos completed years ago noted that they are already living in similar proximity to the wires.

The units are being priced at $400,000 to $490,000 each. Traffic on Marc Chagall, which is already bad for a number of reasons (including some nearby institutional occupants) was cited by some as another cause for concern. However, Cohen pointed out that since the land for the townhouses is zoned commercial, several developers have expressed interest in building a strip mall which would generate even more traffic.

He suggested the best way residents — who could be voting in a referendum on the project — can minimize traffic would be to support the condominium townhouse option. Questions were also raised about a piece of city-owned land next to where the townhouse development would occur. Cohen said it was possible the city would convert its lot into a park and that this would prevent the site from ever being re-sold for private development.

Regarding referendum procedures for the zoning change, some residents requested that the process not begin in December since many snowbirds would still be away when the referendum register would open. Other residents requested that the register take place only in April. Cohen agreed that January would be a better time for the initial reading of the re-zoning bylaw.