Anse-à-l'Orme conservation group blocks road of new housing development
Jackhammers and pickaxes used symbolically to oppose 5,000-home plan
Inspired by Mayor Denis Coderre's jackhammer-versus-mailbox incident, residents and activists in Pierrefonds raised their pickaxes and jackhammers in protest against a planned housing development.
The group Sauvons l'Anse-à-l'Orme claims a road in the l'Anse-à-l'Orme nature park is illegal and they want the city to halt any further development.
"We're following mayor [Denis] Coderre's symbolic action of taking a jackhammer to mailboxes and doing the same thing to the road here," said Donald Hobus, a member of Sauvons l'Anse-à-l'Orme.
"It's symbolic. We're not doing any damage but we're saying this road is illegal, we want it removed and want the whole area protected."
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The planned 185-hectare development would erect 5,000 new housing units.
The group has collected more than 6,000 signatures for a petition to stop the project, and this week it filed a second injunction against the developer.
It plans to present the petition to Coderre and the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough mayor Dimitrios Beis next month.