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Earlier than shopping for property within the West Island, individuals typically test into close by colleges or parks, however these particularly in search of a single-family residence would possibly need to know in the event that they fall right into a automotive shelter — or Tempo — zone or not.

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West Island would-be homebuyers ought to know that the real-estate mantra ‘location, location, location’ additionally applies to automotive shelters, as Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Dorval and Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue are the one native jurisdictions that permit these installations to offset winter blues. Baie-D’Urfé, Beaconsfield, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Pointe-Claire and Senneville thumb their noses at these shelters and have longstanding outright bans.

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Dorval, nonetheless, requires residents to acquire a allow for $20 earlier than putting in their shelters. Its city planning division gives an in depth data pamphlet for downloading.

Residents in demerged West Island cities seeking to escape Montreal agglomeration tax grabs would possibly think about close by off-island cities which can be additionally open to automotive shelters, together with Hudson, Île-Perrot, Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot, Pincourt, St-Lazare and Vaudreuil-Dorion. Then once more, commuters in Vaudreuil-Soulanges received’t have a REM light-rail station to name their very own. The closest REM station might be situated throughout the l’Île-aux-Tourtes bridge in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue that can have restricted parking spots, an element for the booming area if one heads recurrently to Montreal island.

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Whereas many West Islanders do rent snow contractors to clear their driveways and a few would possibly decide to purchase a snow blower, it might be smart if individuals had a alternative to put in winter automotive shelters whereas adhering to sure pointers imposing limits corresponding to top and permitted dates.

The principle argument in favour of the bans is that automotive shelters are unpleasant, whereas proponents level out they’re very sensible in the course of the winter.

Nonetheless, the municipal guidelines both governing or banning short-term winter shelters have been in place for a number of a long time now and, in life like phrases, are everlasting regardless of occasional requires a revision of insurance policies. So, it’s purchaser beware if freedom of alternative on the best way to sort out snow in your personal driveway is a priority.

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Another choice to contemplate to both keep away from calls to permit automotive shelters or the necessity to implement bans is for municipalities to have grasp city plans that information the development of multi-unit housing tasks that embody underground parking areas, significantly in transit-oriented growth (TOD) zones, corresponding to alongside the stretch of the REM stations close to Freeway 40 in Kirkland and Pointe-Claire.

As an illustration, Kirkland metropolis council has greenlighted a developer’s plans — after together with residents in a job power — to construct houses, townhouses and condos alongside Brunswick Blvd. on a part of the previous Merck Frosst campus, which is located simply west of the Fairview forest and the Fairview—Pointe-Claire REM station.

Whether or not or not new high-density residential developments absolutely handle the necessity for inexpensive housing, West Island municipalities want to contemplate extra variety in city planning, as not everybody desires of proudly owning a single-family residence, even when it’s situated in an space that allows a winter automotive shelter.

Albert Kramberger is editor of the Montreal Gazette’s West Island/Off-Island part.

akramberger@postmedia.com