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Business owners on Montreal’s busy St-Denis Street are threatening to sue the City of Montreal over the controversial construction of a bike lane on this major artery, which could “make it impossible for their businesses to survive,” the group says.
Three of the business owners have just sent a formal notice to Montreal’s Mayor, Valérie Plante, enjoining her to “suspend or cancel the work” on the Réseau express vélo (REV), which began a few weeks ago.
Bike Lane Construction on St-Denis: The Final Straw
The business owners “believe that the current situation amounts to an expropriation for many of them, or at the very least makes it impossible for their business to survive, as they are and will be subjected to inconveniences that are not normal in relation to such work and its aftermath,” according to the formal notice sent to the mayor.
“The municipal administration is certainly entitled to carry out projects for the common good […]. But not for and against all. Not in the midst of a pandemic when many businesses are facing bankruptcy and there is a real possibility, unfortunately already demonstrated, that the current situation is the final straw for many of them,” continues the formal notice.
The disgruntled St-Denis business owners have been voicing their concerns regarding the bike lane construction project for some time now, calling on Mayor Valérie Plante and the mayor of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, Luc Rabouin to end the construction.
Valérie Plante announced last week that affected business owners could be compensated.
Bike Lane Construction is “Non-Essential”
Anne-Marie Laoun is the owner of Georges Laoun Opticien on St-Denis Street, one of businesses spearheading the complaint. Anne-Marie argues that the economic impacts of the pandemic coupled with the potential closures coming up cannot be overlooked.
“We’re in a new world,” Anne-Marie told CBC News. “We don’t need non-essential construction taking place now.”
She says business owners want to speak to the city and borough administration face to face.
“This is dividing the city into bikers and non-bikers. The movement is not about that at all,” Anne-Marie said. “It’s about the survival of the city as an economic hub.”
Mayor Luc Rabouin says the borough is talking with the St-Denis Street merchants’ association on a daily basis. He says different groups have different opinions about what is best for the borough. According to him, now is the best time to do construction, as there are fewer people out and about.
“We don’t want to do another infrastructure project next year when we hope people will be able to come back, and tourism will be back,” Luc Rabouin said.
According to Mayor Valérie Plante, the bike lane project was born out of a need for safety. She said around 300 pedestrians and cyclists have been injured, even killed, while travelling on St-Denis since 2014.
St-Denis Bike Lane Official Complaint
The St-Denis Bike Lane complaint was sent to the mayor Sept. 15. The letter begins with a declaration of the potential ruin of St-Denis businesses due to the bike lane construction project:
“While successive construction sites and the never-ending pandemic have weakened or completed several businesses, the decision has been made to go ahead with work whose foreseeable impact under the circumstances is serious on businesses that are struggling to survive all of these hardships. In this exceptional context, merchants suffer a prejudice that goes far beyond the normal inconveniences that usually result from public works.”
The letter continues that the bike lane construction has further impacted business traffic, due to the substantial reduction in parking spaces and road congestion- something that was already an issue prior to the bike lane construction on St-Denis street.
Businesses Launch Anti-Construction Class Action Lawsuits
A class action lawsuit Canada has been filed in Montreal, alleging that the Ministère des Transports du Québec acted negligently and violated business owners’ rights to peaceful enjoyment of their property during the Turcot Interchange construction project. The noise and pollution caused by the construction have ostensibly caused businesses “abnormal and intolerable inconveniences.”
According to Frank, one of the lead plaintiffs in the Turcot Interchange class action lawsuit, business has dropped at his upholstery family business on St-Jacques Street by as much as 60% since the construction of the new Turcot Interchange started.
“All the pounding, the machines, the pylons on the street…we have lost at least 50 to 60% of our business,” Frank told CBC reporters.
Indeed, city construction can negatively impact businesses. In the instance of the St-Denis bike lane construction project, merchants are arguing that the timing of the project is especially detrimental to business, given the COVID-19 pandemic’s general economic catastrophe.
Me Denis Cloutier of Cain Lamarre SENCRL is representing affected business owners in the St-Denis bike lane construction potential lawsuit.
What do you think about the bike lane construction on Montreal’s busy St-Denis Street? Should the city wait until after the pandemic to continue construction? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!
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