Pedestrian street in NDG blooming with green as borough turns asphalt into public space

While walking through her Montreal neighbourhood with her granddaughter, Hedy Dab strolls down a street that is closed to cars but packed with potted plants.

"I can breathe in some beautiful smells," said Dab, a long-time resident of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

"I love the initiative. I love that there are plants here instead of just another street."

Earlier in the season, when Place Guillaume-Couture — a roughly 70-metre street between Girouard and Earnscliffe avenues — was blocked off to cars, there were a few jokes in local Facebook groups. 

Aside from some paint on the asphalt and a few potted plants, the makeshift pedestrian street was relatively barren at first, and the snide commentary targeted its lacklustre appearance.

But now, the rustling of leafy vegetation can be heard on the late-summer breeze. There are chairs and picnic tables along with signs marking the different vegetables, fruits and flowers thriving on the blacktop.

The street, adjacent to a small park, has no driveways or even home entrances.

It is primarily used to park cars or for residents on Coolbrooke and Earnscliffe avenues to zip back and forth from busier arteries.

It's been more than a decade since NDG Coun. Peter McQueen first suggested the street be closed, the asphalt removed and the park expanded to add more green space to an area that lacks in grass, trees and playgrounds.

Children's play structures will be added to new, public space by the end of summer, he said. They were planned from the beginning, but are on back order. 

The street closure is part of a larger pilot project that includes five other locations in Côte-Des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-De-Grâce.

Place Guillaume-Couture is described by the borough as a collective garden. In addition to the weekly maintenance carried out by members of the public involved in the project, themed workshops are planned in collaboration with the NDG Food Depot, the borough announced last month.

"A lot of residents around here are enjoying planting, growing vegetables," said McQueen.

"In terms of doing something permanent here, of course, that would be a big investment — something that is planned over 10 years."

Place Guillaume-Couture will reopen to cars in October and the borough will hold public consultations on the six temporary public spaces that were set up in six different neighbourhoods.

As for the one in eastern NDG, not everybody is happy with losing the free parking. Sacha Remdonick-Gibert said she now has to park so far away, it takes five minutes to walk between her car and her residence.

"They could have placed it somewhere else maybe," she said. "It's like the only free parking that I have that is close to my house."

Nolan McIntyre, on the other hand, said it is such a small stretch of road, "is it really that big of an inconvenience?"

He said he enjoys the public space. He enjoys seeing the green breaking up the usual view of asphalt and concrete. It's a welcoming space, he said, and his young daughter enjoys smelling the flowers and seeing the tomatoes.

"It's really nice and refreshing," he said. "It gives a real community vibe."