With the exception of three privately-owned tracts of land on Côte des Neiges Road, the only part of Westmount included in the Arrondissement historique et naturel du Mont Royal is Summit Park.

“We’ve participated very actively in the entire process, which is the development of criteria for what should be protected in Mont Royal,” said Marks.

Under the Cultural Property Act, the Quebec government may declare any area with a high concentration of historic monuments and sites a historic district. There are currently nine historic districts across the province and three natural ones. Mount Royal received the dual status of historic and natural district.

The protected area includes Mount Royal’s three peaks as well as the cemeteries, major religious and educational institutions, and numerous monuments and historical sites that are linked with the mountain’s past. The selected perimeter takes into account the intrinsic characteristics of Mount Royal.

According to the rules of the district, authorization must be obtained from Quebec’s Culture and Communications

ministry before the erecting or demolishing of a building, making repairs to or altering the exterior appearance, or otherwise changing the design or purpose of a building or lot. In addition, lots cannot be divided, subdivided or parceled out, and signs and billboards cannot be posted, altered, replaced, or destroyed without prior permission.

“It doesn’t have a big impact on us,” said Marks, noting that the district’s boundaries have also never been formally passed into law because of continuing negotiations between stakeholders. While some heritage protection groups, such as les Amis de la Montagne,

continue to lobby the government to extend the district’s borders further into the City of Westmount, Marks maintains it would be wrong.

“I think the further the administration of all of this gets from the local community, the less there are proper controls,” she said. “I think we’re shown over time that we managed to maintain very good and proper controls on the heritage quality in our community and it would be a serious mistake for that to be taken away from local control. We have regulations that are, I think, exactly what has been hoped for in all of the arrondissements historiques et naturels. So why would they take it away from us? It doesn’t make any sense.”