aéroports de montréal scolds politicians for approving residential projects under flight paths
but the airport authority's position on plane noise is "incoherent," says ahuntsic-cartierville borough mayor Émilie thuillier.
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aéroports de montréal says it’s sympathetic to the city of montreal’s desire to ease the housing crisis, but the airport authority is nevertheless sending scolding letters to municipal politicians who consider or approve residential construction projects that lie under its flight paths across the island.
adm has been sending such missives since 2020, the gazette has learned. the latest, sent this summer, admonished montreal elected officials for approving the 1,000-unit Écoquartier louvain affordable housing project, which is a 25-minute drive and 12 kilometres as the bird flies from montréal–pierre elliott trudeau international airport.
“although we understand the issues related to the lack of housing in the metropolis, we consider that this development would be ill advised if it does not take into account mitigation measures,” said the letter, signed by adm vice-presidents martin massé and karl brochu and dated july 15. the letter also reminded city officials that the airport has been operating since 1941 and that residences grew up under its flight corridors.
“you will of course understand that aéroports de montréal will not accept any responsibility and will not assume in any way the consequences of your decision to allow such a development, including the discontent of the population and/or residents.”
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adm says its own 20-year master plan — which includes a $4-billion expansion of the airport — will be submitted to transport canada for approval by the end of this year, but presented to the public in 2025.
the airport authority’s position on plane noise is “incoherent,” said émilie thuillier, a member of the projet montréal administration at city hall and the borough mayor of ahuntsic-cartierville, where the écoquartier louvain project is located at de louvain st. e., between st-hubert st. and christophe-colomb ave.
the july 15 missive was the second such letter adm has sent to her borough about a development project, she added. it was addressed to thuillier, who is also a member of the city executive committee, and two other executive committee members.
“they don’t do anything when people are complaining about plane noise, but when there’s a new development in the same area, they say: ‘hey, be careful. there are planes flying over in that area and it’s noisy. so don’t build there,'” thuillier said.
“for the people already living there, they say it’s not noisy. but for the people who haven’t come yet, they say it’s noisy.”
thuillier said she passed on the adm letter to the designers of the écoquartier louvain project. but, she added, the site is also located near railway tracks, and the designers are already taking soundproofing needs into consideration.
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meanwhile, st-laurent borough mayor alan desousa says two adm letters have chastised his borough as well.
one of the letters, dated september 2020 and co-signed by massé and a previous adm vice-president, said: “although the st-laurent borough has higher requirements for soundproofing buildings, we are surprised by your desire to authorize residential real estate projects of nearly 1,000 additional homes in an area where there is significant air traffic.”
adm’s letter stated erroneously that st-laurent had approved two residential development projects under a flight corridor, desousa said. in fact, his borough had already nixed residential use on the site and told the owners of the property that it prefers light industrial and commercial uses.
desousa said he told adm: “look, we don’t know where you got the information in your letter from, but that’s not what’s on our minds. so for you to write that letter is pretty presumptuous of you and if you want to know what we’re thinking, pick up the phone.”
like the recent letter to ahuntsic-cartierville, adm’s 2020 letter to st-laurent said the airport authority would refuse to accept responsibility or the “consequences” of the borough’s project approval if future residents complain about plane noise. it also threatened that adm “will take the measures it deems appropriate to make the situation well known and rectify any allegations that tend to blame adm for this situation.”
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desousa said the distance of a proposed development to the airport, how close it is to the flight corridors, what building materials would be used and what level of soundproofing is planned are “reasonable questions that local elected officials are quite able to answer without necessarily being dictated to by adm.” he added that his borough has voluntarily applied stricter requirements for soundproofing for residences built close to flight corridors since 2007.
and while adm is critical of local municipal councils for making development decisions without heeding the airport authority’s objections, the local councils are upset that adm doesn’t appear to be listening to their communities’ concerns as the airport authority finalizes its 20-year master plan.
“local elected officials don’t have any say, not just in terms of land use but in terms of future projects that may impact their communities,” desousa said.
adm responded in an email that it’s “concerned with the harmonious cohabitation of local residents and airport operations” and has a soundscape management action plan to that end. spokesperson eric forest explained in the email that adm sends the letters to the boroughs because it has an interest in land use. the airport authority, forest said, “monitors real estate developments around the airport and makes recommendations.”
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adm isn’t opposed to the écoquartier louvain project, forest said, but the airport authority reminded montreal elected officials that it will be located under a runway axis.
“in this context, adm believes that this type of project should include the implementation of mitigation measures,” the email said, including higher-than-indoor-standard soundproofing and information to future owners or tenants to the effect that the dwellings are under the axis of a runway.
“these suggestions are of a general nature and are not specific to the project mentioned.”
however, thuillier said adm’s flight corridors spread across montreal island, so theoretically it can interject on developments anywhere.
“my question to adm is: do you have a map that indicates the places where you’ll send a letter if there’s new residential development?” she said.
“is adm sending a message to the city of montreal and the public that ‘i have an airport here and we’re asking you not to build over several square kilometres on the island because our planes fly over’? it can’t work like that. this is a problem.”
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