CHRIS LOWREY
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC Aug. 15, 2018
Municipality of Pontiac landowners in the Gatineau Park could have more freedom to perform renovations on their properties if a draft bylaw is passed by council.
The first draft bylaw will make it easier for property owners in the park to build or renovate their residence.
The second draft bylaw will help the municipality deal with non-compliant property owners. The bylaw on the books now does not allow single dwelling homes in the park, but it does allow for mobile homes.
The new changes would allow single dwelling homes, but will not allow mobile homes.

The new bylaw will bring the municipality’s zoning into line with the MRC. The MRC des Collines currently allows single dwelling homes whereas the municipality has the area zoned as parkland.
The proposed bylaws will only affect about a dozen properties in the park, according to Municipality of Pontiac Director General Benedikt Kuhn.
The bylaw changes were instigated by a resident who lives on the border between Chelsea and the Municipality of Pontiac within the confines of the park.
The property owner has a 100-year-old house – which has been handed down through the generations – that sits on the access road to La Pêche and wants to set the house back from the roadway.
Under the current rules, the property owner can’t do anything to his property.
Property owners in Gatineau Park occupy a precarious position.
Since it’s not a national park or a provincial park, the National Capital Commission (NCC) is in charge of the park.
“The Gatineau Park is kind of an oddity among parks in Canada,” Kuhn said. “Within the park there are little enclaves of private property that was never purchased by the NCC.”
The remaining private property owners have been allowed to keep their property under a grandfather clause.
“When you’re grandfathered, you’re very much limited with what you can do,” Kuhn said. “You can basically just stay on the same footprint and that’s it, you can’t even add an extension to your house, you can’t move it.”
Under the current rules, even if a home is destroyed by fire, any “repairs” that cost more than 50 per cent of the value of the home is considered new construction.
Kuhn said that when the municipality’s urban planner brought this to council’s attention, it was one of the reasons for the new draft bylaw – along with the request from the property owner.
As for the property owners who don’t have a structure on their land, they have to go through the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec (CPTAQ) since the park is zoned as agricultural land.
Not only do residents have to seek approval from the municipality and the MRC, they also have to get approval from the CPTAQ if they want to build on their property.
Residents can push for a referendum on the bylaws if they choose, but Kuhn said that opposition appears to be minimal.
“There didn’t seem to be much at the public consultation,” Kuhn said.
“It really isn’t about opening it up for subdivisions,” Kuhn said. “There are maybe two or three bigger lots within the park but they don’t necessarily meet the conditions to be subdivided.”
Kuhn said the absence of a municipal road means that a subdivision is not likely.
“They’d need to have a municipal road and how are we going to get a municipal road through Gatineau parklands to [the] private property?” Kuhn said.