City favours pedestrian pathway to Summit Park

Upholding a long-standing policy of not allowing public transit on its territory to reach Summit Park, the City of Westmount may instead consent to its access via a pedestrian pathway on the mountain's north side.

Mayor Karin Marks recently revealed that members of the Table de concertation du Mont Royal — a provincially mandated body of elected and unelected officials who oversee the preservation of Mount Royal's three peaks — have been taking an interest in access to the summit by city bus.

"One of the guiding notions for many of the members of the Table de concertation is increasing public transit to (the summit)," Marks said. "We have always had a policy that public transit is not available on the mountain because of the small streets, the very winding streets, and the effect that it has had on the community up there."

The Table's members represent institutions and various government agencies situated on Mount Royal. Included are cemeteries, hospitals and universities, as well as municipalities and boroughs. They meet once a month to look at developing guidelines for Mount Royal. Summit Park was included in the perimeter when the Quebec government decided to declare Mount Royal a protected zone.

Marks said members of the Table would like to increase the park's accessibility.

"That all sounds wonderful, and, of course, it's a public space," she said. "But when you have an urban forest like that, if you increase its accessibility and you have a large number of people coming, you run the risk of damaging that which you were trying to protect."

The Mayor also emphasized that she has been trying to make clear to the Table's members that Westmount has not taken the position to discourage people from coming into Westmount. "They have access to all of our parks, including that one," she said. "But it's a pedestrian access."

Marks said the Table's members have been discussing the possibility of Westmount allowing greater access to the summit by a pedestrian pathway that leads through Westmount to Ridgewood Avenue in the Borough of Côte des Neiges-NDG. The path's entrance could be reached by public transit that goes up Ridgewood.

In an interview this week, Marks emphasized that access by bus to the summit would only be via Ridgewood. But she said she remained concerned about certain aspects of the proposal. "We have had problems in the past with mountain bikes that have come up through that path," said Marks. "So making it more accessible, yes, would allow people to know how to get to Summit Park if they wanted to come by bus.

"But it also has some potential concerns. It's just that we don't want to create an area that is a security risk, nor do want to create an access that is difficult for us to police. You can't really police it from above; you'd have to police it from below, which is not Westmount. It's in Montreal."

Sylvie Guilbault, executive director of les Amis de la Montagne, a prominent lobby group for the protection of Mount Royal and a Table de concertation member, said her organization is not pushing for Westmount to allow public transit access to the summit.

"There hasn't been any specific endeavour to pressure Westmount concerning Summit Park with respect to buses," she said. "There have been discussions on the general improvement on the mountain of public transit, as well as pedestrian and bicycle access."