PROJET DE PISCINE INTÉRIEURE

INTER MUNICIPALE

Comme plusieurs d'entre-vous le savez déjà, le Conseil de la Ville envisage la construction d'un tel complexe aquatique en association avec la ville de Sainte-Marthe sur le Lac.

Devant la forte contestation de ce projet, la Ville présentera lors une 

SÉANCE DE CONSULTATION PUBLIQUE  les détails de ce projet.

Entretemps, veuillez prendre connaissance d'un article fort intéressant, neutre et bien élaboré par un de nos concitoyens anglophone. De 2mopaul.

The Deux-Montagnes/Ste-Marthe-Sur-Le-Lac 

                  Swimming Complex Controversy
Last Thursday's town hall 'regular' meeting was anything but that. On the agenda was a vote to form a group that will negotiate an agreement with Ste-Marthe-Sur-Le-Lac (SMSLL) to build an inter-municipal year-round swimming facility behind the city hall in SMSLL. For you, like myself, that do not know where city hall is, it's behind Giant Tiger. Karine Gauthier, councillor of the Du Lac district, requested a vote to show her constituents opposition to such a project. Of course, being the only councillor to oppose the motion, it still passed along with the negotiation of an agreement to share the Olympia Arena. The main reason that Ms. Gauthier opposed the project is that only one quarter of the more than 200 citizens she asked had any interest in going to a public pool, let alone in another city. Once the agenda items were presented, it was time for a very heated question period. Let's just say that most of the talk from the floor was not in the form of a question.
Of course, the price of the project was discussed in great detail although no official numbers were communicated. The ball park figure of the cost of building this complex is between $8 and $10 million. The operating costs are estimated to be around $1 million a year. The cost of the venture would be split 50/50 as we both have around 18,000 citizens and the commitment would be for 20 years. The other point of contention over this project is that the two mayors and the two general managers were the only ones that really knew anything about this project until about 2 weeks ago. Had it not been for the public outcry for transparency, the motion to start this project would have passed almost unnoticed at last Thursday's meeting. The original plan was to have press conferences this week so that the newspapers would publish that we were definitely doing the project. The project would have been presented to the public in September with work probably already started. Our mayor, Denis Martin, was on board because this venture could be done with 'little or no tax burden'. Due to the sale of the Manoir Grand-Moulin and the soon to be paid off Olympia Arena, the city's financial situation has made a turn for the better. For this reason, the mayor assumed that the population would accept the project. It looks like he was wrong.
Councillor Karin Gauthier, asked the mayor's permission to survey her constituents to see if there was interest in the project. 78% of the people said they would not use the pool. Of the 22% that said they would use the pool, 50% said they would use it a couple of times a year. Ms. Gauthier's quote is: 'I do not think that owning a pool with Ste-Marthe-Sur-Le-Lac is in the best interest of the citizens of Deux-Montagnes. The financial situation does not allow DM to invest such a important amount due to the high level of taxation and one of the most important long term debts in Quebec. However, I am convinced and in agreement of finding the most cost effective solution to allow citizens of Deux-Montagnes access to a pool in the area.'
Ste-Marthe mayor Ms. Paulus has promised to get a pool for the city during her two electoral campaigns. She currently has an agreement with the city of St-Eustache where all SMSLL residents swim in the St-Eustache pool complex for 'free'. This costs the city somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 a year. There are about 1000 visits from SMSLL residents to the St-Eustache pool every month and fewer during the summer months probably because many people have their own pools open. Assuming that 1,000 different residents visit the pool, this would mean that each month only 5.5% of the people of Ste-Marthe use the facilities. If each person went twice in the month it would mean that only 2.8% of the population is actually using those facilities. It is obvious that Ms. Paulus wants to build a pool in her town as she is already spending a lot of money for a service that is far away from her town. Ste-Marthe has everything to gain in a 50/50 agreement with our financially strapped town. That leads to a question I will have for our mayor. Do we keep paying 50% of the bill even though our populations may not be the same in a few years? Two-Mountains is very limited in increasing its population. In the last 20 years, our city has grown by 2,000 citizens while there has been close to a 10,000 citizen growth in Ste-Marthe. In 10 years, we will probably still be around 18,000 while Ste-Marthe has the potential to grow to 24,000. Who knows? Should an agreement go through, should it not be proportional to the population? That's the way the Ste-Marthe/St-Eustache deal is currently negotiated.
Some people may be saying to themselves, 'didn't we go through a pool debate a few years ago?'. The answer would be yes. In 2010, there was a survey done to see is we wanted to use the St-Eustache pool. All municipal tax bills would have an additional $50 added to them every year and you would only have to pay an administration charge to get a card to access the pool in St-Eustache. A telephone survey was done and 74% of people said no to a pool based, so Mayor Lauzon at the time did not approve the move. The press release of that decision can be accessed here (in French).
Other than the uproar at the town meeting last week, the mayor and some councillors were bombarded with emails from disgruntled citizens who felt they were being left in the dark over one of the city's biggest projects. Mayor Martin announced that he will be having a public consultation to present the project. This will be at 7pm on Monday June 20th at the Veterans Hall at 141 Grand-Moulin. No matter what side of the fence you are on, I think it would be in your interest to attend this important meeting for the future of our city. 
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