Sainte-Marthe planned to build a school on a wetland. Then the town flooded

Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, recently devastatedby a breached dike, is being forced torapidly re-evaluateits plans for growth as the province reviews policies around developmentin flood zones.

Radio-Canada has learned that the suburb northwest of Montrealwas planning to build a new school on wetlands within the area that flooded when the Lake of Two Mountains breached the dike on April 27.

"We're certainly going to reconsider it," said Sainte-Marthe MayorSonia Paulus. "It's clear that elected officials and the school board will sit down to discuss the situation. We'll surely have to reconsider the location.

On Thursday,Quebec Public Security Minister GeneviveGuilbaultsuggested any projectsthat could be affected by future flooding would need to be reviewed.

"Before announcing new construction in wetlands or flood zones, we need to take the time the situation requires," Guilbault said. "We have to take the reality of what happened into account. And we absolutely need to review flood zone management before approving all new construction."

Wetlands ponds, peat bogs andswamps act like sponges, absorbing water and limiting the impact of floods. There are few that have been left untouchedin Sainte-Marthe, where this spring's historic floods caused enormous damage.

The town exists because of a dike, first built in 1980, that holds back the waters of the Lake of Two Mountains.Sainte-Marthe's streets areeffectively laid outon the actual lake bed.

The dike was inspected after the 2017floods, and plans were in place to repair it this fall.

Paulus had previouslydefended the plans fora new school, slated to be built onone and a half hectares of land in a wooded area now under water.

Wetland maps from Quebec's Environment Ministry indicatethat building the school in that location would require building on part of a vast swamp.

'Impossible to avoid'

A new library inaugurated by Sainte-Marthe just last year was built directly on the wetland. Its parking lot was flooded out this spring.

For thatproject, the EnvironmentMinistryapproved the destruction of a peat bog about the size of a quarter-acre residential lot, as well as a portion of mature deciduous woodland.

In a 2017 assessment, the ministry said it was "impossible to avoid the wetland because it is the only land owned by the City and zoned for community use with the required area for the planned facilities."

The ministry's approval came with a few conditions.

A conservation area of 8,300 square metres, or nearly a hectare, was to be established in the remainingwoodland, and ownership of that protected land had to be transferred from the municipality to a third party to prevent its future destruction.

The municipality did just that: Radio-Canada found documents showingSainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lacgave up the land to a committee albeit one with anaddress atSainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac's city halland with the municipality's mayor as its head.

"I can tell you that I will not touch it," Paulussaid, when asked ifthethird-party committee couldreally be independent with the town's mayor chairing it. "It's a question of ethics."

As population grows, green space shrinks

With low taxes, waterfront views and its proximity to the city, Sainte-Marthehas grown rapidly, its population more than doubling from 8,300 in 1995 to 18,000 in 2016. That growth has had consequences.

According to data from the Ministry of the Environment, Sainte-Marthe's forest cover fell from 16per cent in 1999 to 8 per centin 2009 well below the critical threshold of 30 per centidentifiedin Environment Canada guidelines for maintaining biodiversity.

Children from the south of Sainte-Marthe currently attend school in the neighbouring municipality of Deux-Montagnes.

Radio-Canada has also learned that a real estate developer, supported by the municipality, wants to remove another woodlot and a wetlandbordering the flooded area.

On March 28, 2019, the developer Groupe L'Hritage (GBD), owner of the land, applied to the Environment Ministryfor a permit to fill a wetland in the woods located at the northeast corner of Oka Road and des Promenades Boulevard.

The request has not yet been approved, and the ministryhas not replied to Radio-Canada's queries.

The project is a proposed condominium development with about 20 buildings. Sainte-Marthehas exchanged lots with the developer to allow for the construction of an aquatic centre.

The pool was promised by the end of 2019 and was originally planned for the flood zone, in the wetland area now proposed for a school.

Alain Tremblay, GBD'svice-president of finance and operations, said the project "is not yet defined."