Martin C. Barry
Answering questions during the Sept. 12 meeting of the City of Deux-Montagnes’ city council, André Hatin of 15th Ave. presented Mayor Denis Martin and council with a petition signed by residents from Oka Rd. up to Du Lac Blvd. complaining about speeding motorists.
“We are presenting this to the city so that there can be various attenuation measures taken,” he said. The mayor replied that he was aware speeding is a problem in the area Hatin was talking. He said it’s a problem that dates back several decades.
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Speeding a problem
“Sometimes when I drive around 31 or 32 kilometres an hour, the people behind become impatient and it’s very problematic,” said the mayor, maintaining that drivers need to be educated about driving more slowly.
“We want people to become aware of the speed they’re travelling,” he continued, noting that the city installed speed warning flashers in several locations around Deux-Montagnes this year alone, with plans to expand the program to other areas.
Flasher warnings help
“We would rather this would not become a habit,” said the mayor, explaining that city officials would rather drivers become aware on their own when they are driving too fast. He said that on 20th Ave. a reduction in average speed was seen after the installation of a flasher.
In an interview following the council meeting, Mayor Martin said again that residents of Deux-Montagnes need to be made more aware that they’re speeding in areas where children can be endangered.
Children nearby playing
“When you go 30 kilometres an hour it might really feel slow, but if you go 50 it becomes too fast for some of our streets,” he said. “Fifteenth Ave. is a street where there’s Central Park so it’s a problematic area where there’s more traffic than usual because of the park and during the summer especially there are issues over that there.”
Also during question period, Manon Girard of 17th Ave. asked the mayor whether the city has any intention of paying closer attention to the indiscriminate use of the commercial herbicide Roundup, which she said was recently being used by a property owner around 16th Ave.
Bad herbicide smell
“It smelled for days and days and from far, not just up close,” she said. Director-General Benoit Ferland explained that the City of Deux-Montagnes restricts the use of herbicides, although not Roundup as a specific brand. He said the city also relies on evidence, such as photos of herbicide applications being made, as proof to establish when a by-law has been violated.
According to Ferland, the commuter railway agency used herbicide on the tracks over the summer and that for this reason the city will be raising it as an issue in the future. All the same, he noted that some residents have reported applying herbicides on their property for years but never received any complaints about it.
Some herbicides banned
Regarding the use of Roundup specifically, Mayor Martin said, “I can’t really say anything about Roundup per se. But for every herbicide and insecticide that is illegal, there a recommendation. As our general manager was saying, sometimes we have to catch people in the act and that is not always easy.
“Sometimes they are doing (herbicide) early in the morning,” he added. “Sometimes they are doing it on the weekends. Most of these things are banned here. Whatever you’re doing, you need to have it approved by the urban planning department. Roundup might be one of those things.”
