CPTAQ reins in housing development on Pontiac farmland
Mo Laidlaw
In order to build a residence in the agricultural zone, landowners have to apply to the CPTAQ - the Quebec commission for protection of farmland, as well as receive approval from the municipality. Pontiac council approved several applications to the CPTAQ last spring. This is an update on five requests to build twelve or more houses in the southeast of Pontiac.
Requests to the CPTAQ in 2004
In April, Bill Twolan asked for authorization to subdivide 14 hectares between highway 148 and the Ottawa River, north of Elm Rd, for a residential project of 25 lots. André Richard applied to build houses on 25 existing lots between the end of Braun road and Hauts-Vents road (across the highway from Twolan’s site).
In May, Carole Douglas applied to the CPTAQ for more than 20 lots to complete Lelièvre “Crescent”, off Maple Lane, and Eldon Davis applied for 12 lots totalling 3.2 hectares on the west side of Crégheur, between the 148 and de la Montagne.
Lastly, in June, Daniel Dubuc applied to build 13 houses on existing lots along the south side of Montagne and east side of Crégheur. All of these requests to the CPTAQ were supported by resolutions passed by Pontiac council. Sylvain Bertrand, director-general of the municipality, explained that there were only about 150 building lots available, enough for 2 or 3 years.
Commission doesn’t believe council's resolutions
The Commission finds “the municipality's support is surprising. (The municipality) mentions that lots in residential zones are getting rare. This claim does not agree at all with information possessed by the Commission, raising doubts as to the truth of this resolution.” Article 61.1 was introduced in 1996, to encourage building where permitted in non agricultural zones, before building in the green zone.
Refusals
Bill Twolan says that the CPTAQ refused to “judge” his and Carole Douglas’s projects, citing article 61.1 of the law: there is vacant land available nearby, outside the agricultural zone. Isabelle Coté, the building inspector, says that the only recourse in this case is to change the zoning to non-agricultural. A request for exclusion from the agricultural zone can be made by a municipality or MRC to the CPTAQ, following meetings with the UPA, the MRC and other agencies.
Judgments
Full details of judgments are available at www.jugements.qc.ca (in French). This website also has decisions of other Quebec courts and tribunals, from the Appeal court to the TAQ (administrative tribunal). The CPTAQ website at www.cptaq.gouv.qc.ca has the law and copies of forms (in English and French).
Rejections
Eldon Davis’s application was rejected on 12 October, specifically because the soil is of good potential. Although the parcel is not actively cultivated, it is next to grassland, and together they form a block of good farmland. It is also “close to about 20 hectares of available land not in the agricultural zone,” at Heyworth. The Commissioners must look at the region as a whole. “Pontiac is part of the metropolitan census region of Ottawa-Gatineau, where building lots are available that will not affect farmland.”
André Richard’s application was rejected on 14 October, “because there are building lots available nearby, not in the agricultural zone”. The commissioners explain that the area in question is neglected, despite having soils of high potential, “because the owner is not a farmer.” According to their data, “half of Pontiac (22,258 hectares) is not in the agricultural zone, although a large part of this is Gatineau Park.” Their maps show “an adjacent non-agricultural zone of nearly 114 hectares, unbuilt” (the Ottawa river shoreline from just northwest of Elm to de la Baie, including part of Breckenridge Creek Nature Preserve, is zoned “rural-residential”), as well as “another zone more to the south where about 140 hectares are available” (south of Maple Lane).
Thirteen lots authorized
On 15 October, the Commission authorized Daniel Dubuc’s request to sell 13 lots on 5.26 hectares, for houses, as there is “no negative impact on farmland or neighbouring farming activities.” Commissioners noted that “Daniel Dubuc is a farmer, and these lots are mostly gaps between existing houses”, three on the east side of Crégheur, and ten on the south side of Montagne. “The soil is mostly poor and the lots separated from cultivated areas by a buffer zone of wooded ravines, without maple trees. There is little loss of productive farmland, even for the two lots with good soil, which are separated from the rest of the farm by a ravine.”
Few developments allowed
Overall only one in five of these developments were authorized for building. However individual applications for in-filling in the same areas have had more success. In April 2003, Aimé and Judith Glandon were authorized to cede part of their 1.07 hectare lot at 1667 highway 148, so that their daughter could build a house, “the parcel of land being in the middle of a linear residential development along highway 148.” In October 2004, Murray Heaphy was authorized to cede a lot next to his house on Lelièvre, so that his daughter can build a house, “although this lot has good soil.”
Also in October the CPTAQ ruled that Bill Twolan could acquire part of the former rail-line next to a lot he already owns near the end of Elm road. “Realising this project has no negative impact on use of neighbouring lots for farm purposes. This lot is part of a small sector along the edge of the river where the soils are poor and there is already a discontinuous residential development. There was a (cottage) here until 1995 when it burned down.” The combined lot conforms to municipal regulations for minimum lot size, allowing a house to be built, subject to the rules on building on river banks.
The CPTAQ is preserving the future of the small amount of good farmland in Québec, which would otherwise be at risk from developers, and local politicians without a long term vision.