From todays gazette
Heritage activists and some Plateau Mont Royal residents are seeing and hearing more of the Montreal Alouettes than they can stand.
Two heritage groups say the expansion blocks the view of Mount Royal, but the Alouettes say the addition was done exactly according to the approved plans.
The football team’s newly enlarged venue at McGill University’s Molson Stadium has drawn complaints about noise pollution after an announcer’s voice boomed for blocks around the stadium’s perch on Mount Royal during last Thursday’s regular-season home opener, thanks to a new sound system.
As well, Heritage Montreal and Les Amis de la Montagne are filing complaints with the caretakers of the mountain – the city and the Quebec Culture Department – that a new deck of seats added above a stand on the south side of the stadium obstructs the view of Mount Royal from Park Ave.
“It’s exactly what they (the team) promised wouldn’t happen,” Heritage Montreal policy director Dinu Bumbaru said yesterday.
The team agreed in 2007 to preserve views of the mountain as a condition to obtain the province and the city’s approval of a renovation plan that included adding 5,000 seats and a giant screen. The federal and provincial governments footed $19.3 million of the $29.3-million renovation tab, while the city kicked in $4 million. The club spent $6 million.
Heritage Montreal passed a resolution at its annual general meeting last month calling on the province and the city to explain “the
“I don’t know what plans they’re talking about,” said Claude Rochon, vicepresident of marketing and communications for the Alouettes.
“We did high-tech simulations with the government showing exactly the views from all around the stadium and we did it exactly according to plan.”
The Culture Department monitored the construction, permanent damage caused to the historical landscape of Mount Royal with their authorization and their financial contributions, as well as the corrective measures they envision.”
However, the team says the addition was built exactly as indicated in the architects’ and engineers’ plans, which were approved by the Culture Department, so it doesn’t understand the preservation groups’ complaint. he added.
The Heritage Montreal resolution also demands that any simulations submitted by developers for future projects that will affect the mountain be independently verified.
The department will examine the complaints about the obstructed view with the city and meet with all sides in the dispute, department spokesperson Annie LeGruiec said.
McGill offered no comment on the matter yesterday.
Meanwhile, residents are giving the Alouettes an earful after getting an earful from a new stadium sound system during last week’s home opener.
“It was a loud, booming male speaker voice,” said Park Ave. resident Virginia Nixon, who lives more than three blocks from the stadium.
“It’s like being at a carnival. It’s so loud.”
The Milton Park Citizens’ Committee says it’s aware of at least six letters to the team about the new sound system since last week.
The Alouettes’ Rochon said the team has experts working on the problem and will adjust the sound. It’s surprising, he said, because the new system is designed to direct sound within the stadium more efficiently than the old system and at the same time reduce the sound travelling outside.
Nixon warned she won’t be satisfied with “adjusting” the sound in the streets. “It’s ‘eliminating’ that should happen.”