Brownsburg-Chatham citizens protest sale of municipal property

Thirty citizens from Brownsburg-Chatham were vocal in their opposition to the sale of 451 hectares of municipal property to the municipal regional council (MRC) of Argenteuil, during a public consultation meeting on Wednesday, July 27.

Located along the shores of the Ottawa River, adjacent to the Vélo Route Argenteuil and close to the Brownsburg-Chatham campsite, the territory in question includes two adjacent lots that the municipality intends to sell to the MRC for the proposed price of $200,000, so that they can be developed as a regional park.

"We don't have the money to invest in this property and it is sad to see such a beautiful property stagnate," said Brownsburg-Chatham Mayor Georges Dinel. "For the MRC as a collective, this is a small project to develop, but for us it is impossible right now."

Under its proposal, Brownsburg-Chatham would remain a co-owner of the properties, but the MRC believes that owning the properties collectively would put both parties in a better position to attain provincial and federal grants.

"As an MRC, the possibility of getting grants for 30,000 people who live in nine municipalities is greater than for one municipality to vie for the same money," said MRC director-general Marc Carrière.

He added there would be little incentive for the other eight mayors to financially support a project that only impacted Brownsburg-Chatham, compared with one in which they were equal partners.

"It's not us against them in this project," he said. "We're all together and part of the same family. Right now it's a question of vision and we are acting in this together."

Those who were opposed to the sale questioned the benefit for citizens to sell a property they would then have to reinvest in to create parkland. It has also not been determined whether Brownsburg-Chatham will pay part of the cost of the $200,000 sale, given that they are also a member of the MRC of Argenteuil.

Former Brownsburg-Chatham mayor Lise Bourgault was fierce in her opposition and she urged the council to reconsider the sale and to develop the property on its own.

"Keep and preserve the properties and develop them ecologically with the support of the MRC and the federal and provincial governments," she said. "We did it with the municipal camping and the marina and we can accomplish it here.

"When the Municipality of Brownsburg-Chatham received the government land it was like being given a precious jewel. There are few municipalities in Quebec that own such riverfront property."

In order to better understand the properties and their potential for development, Brownsburg-Chatham commissioned a study that analyzed the two lots. Of them, 27 per cent was listed as wetland, 17 per cent as agriculture, 19 per cent as wasteland and 36 per cent as forestry.

The first property was sold to the municipality by the Quebec government in 1992 for the price of one dollar, with the clause that the property cannot be developed residentially or commercially, nor can it have permanent installations.

Valued at $227,300, development of this property is limited and any modifications to the land need to be approved by the province.

The second, adjacent property is commonly known as the "Smith farm" and it was purchased by Brownsburg-Chatham in 2004 for $205,000. At the time of this transaction, the MRC provided 25 per cent of the purchase price ($51,200) and supported a Pacte Rural grant representing a further $30,000.

Located in the green belt, this second property is also deeply regulated by provincial law and the Quebec Commission for the Protection of Agricultural Land (CPTAQ) has designated that the use of this land for anything except agriculture requires special authorization.

Complicating matters is the fact that this second lot has been rented to a local farm that continues to cultivate the property. In fact, Michel Guay of Ferme Lolisei has been renting the Smith property since the creation of the Carillon dam in 1963.

Guay uses the property to grow grains and feed for the 70 cows in his dairy operation and he represents the last of three farms that originally held this agreement, which was signed following the original sale of the Smith farm.

In October 2010, Brownsburg-Chatham adopted resolution 10-10-402 to accept the MRC's proposed purchase price of $200,000, plus the price of the notary and the inclusion that Guay would be able to continue to rent the Smith lands for $1,800 a year until 2020.

At the conclusion of the public consultation, Dinel confirmed there would not be another consultation and that a resolution to accept the sale has already been reached.