A Sustainable Development Action Plan for the Town of Contrecœur

The City of Contrecoeur will develop a sustainable development action plan for energy, water, and waste management; soil use; sustainable transportation; land use planning; natural environment development; and remediation of identified contaminated sites. Faced with demographic growth and increased pressure from property developers, the Town wants to create a planning tool to help it support future development in a sustainable way. The Town also wants to show that a small community of less than 8,000 people can draw inspiration from large concepts and apply them on a smaller scale. Contrecœur’s SDAP will contain several levels of sustainable development guidelines, including the integration of the green and blue corridor principles. In addition, any new property developments will be forced to comply with densification measures, and put in place environmental initiatives to improve energy efficiency, surface water management, and the reduction of heat islands. Contrecœur has an industrial park, which the Town wants to develop into a model for other municipalities by attracting and supporting environmentally friendly industries. The SDAP will also provide for the development of multi-purpose trails to encourage active transportation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In terms of the social and economic objectives of the plan, Contrecœur wants to strengthen local identity by maintaining and enhancing its natural heritage, and preserving its existing architectural heritage. It will also encourage urban densification over sprawl. In addition, the plan aims to improve the quality of life of Contrecœur residents by facilitating access to the region’s natural environment. The Town will undertake the project with support from Nature-Action Québec (NAQ), using a methodology developed around theoretical frameworks and tools such as The Natural Step formula, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and the Québec provincial government's 2015-2020 Sustainable Development Strategy. The sustainable development action plan will de developed using a unifying approach. Two public consultations will allow residents to suggest concrete measures to achieve the objectives of the sustainable development action plan. Every suggested measure could be selected by a steering committee to be carried out in the short, medium and long term. Specific targets and measurement indicators will be determined for each action. The plan will then be followed by the implementation of measures for the next 20 years, and shall be reviewed every five years. The sustainable development action plan will be developed in line with various existing management tools, specifically the RCM of Marguerite-D’Youville’s development plan, the 2012–2017 action plan from the Montreal Metropolitan Community’s plan for metropolitan development, as well as the city plan, the specific downtown city plan and Contrecœur’s recreational tourism development plan. (Project description from original funding application)