Canada/La Matapédia to amend its container bylaw

The MRC de La Matapédia's new draft by-law governing the siting of disused containers will, among other things, leave more room for municipal discretion.

Basically, the municipality will be free to choose the degree of severity it wishes to apply.

A quote from Frédéric Desjardins, Director, Urban Planning and Development, MRC de La Matapédia

This is one of the major changes in the new version of the by-law that caused such a stir last year.

In the old by-law, there were few places where containers were allowed.

In the draft on the table, containers may be more present on the MRC territory, but they will have to be concealed," explains Frédéric Desjardins, Director of La Matapédia's Urban Planning and Development Department.

The by-law will pay particular attention to the presence of containers in specific areas. In priority sectors, i.e. scenic corridors along main roads and in urbanization perimeters, i.e. the heart of a village or downtown area, [containers will have] to be completely concealed," says Frédéric Desjardins.

Reeve Chantale Lavoie points out that it was necessary to write a new version of the draft by-law because the first one had caused quite a stir last March.

A public presentation

This time, an information evening was organized by the MRC to present the new version of the by-law before initiating the adoption process.

There were suspicions that we wanted to pass things quickly without talking about them and all that, which wasn't the case. So we said this time, we're going to take the time to really show that we're doing it in good faith.

A quote from Chantale Lavoie, Prefect, MRC de La Matapédia

One of the irritants of the old version was the lack of room for municipal decisions. In fact, the Town of Amqui openly opposed the first version of the by-law last year.

Today, the tone has changed.

Mayor Sylvie Blanchette assures us that the MRC will have her support this time. We felt that the first draft was too restrictive, whereas today we've gone back to what a development plan should be, in other words, a broad outline.

The forty or so people present at the information evening seemed to welcome the new version of the by-law.

MRC resident Guy Villeneuve finds it an appreciable improvement. It wasn't serious at first [about banning] containers. Now they've taken us seriously. They've come up with something that can be negotiated," he says.

Saint-Damase resident Simon Landry agrees. What I like concretely is that, basically, it's allowed in places behind buildings, in hidden places.

Landry estimates that, if all goes well, the new bylaw could come into force in 2026.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/