After receiving 162 citizen emails opposing the construction of a new Sephardi synagogue and religious studies centre, Côte Saint-Luc, a heavily jewish Montreal suburb, has cancelled plans to support the project.
The emails were received during a 15-day public consultation period. A bylaw would have had to be amended to rezone property owned by the Fondation Sepharade Kollel Avrechim from residential to institutional. They planned to build a five-story community center on the grounds, featuring a Sephardi synagogue and Jewish learning institute. Three emails expressed support if the project was moved to a different location.
“We now have a legal obligation to act and not create a false sense or belief that this process can go forward,” said Côte Saint-Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein, reported the Canadian Jewish News. He urged the group to resubmit a modified proposal.
Opposition to the building plan stems from the size and space needed. Local residents against the proposal state that the 79-foot building would be too high and take up too much land, and that a large parking lot would be too close to the sidewalk.
Côte Saint-Luc, a city located on the Island of Montreal, has a population of 32,000. An estimated 40 percent of its residents are Jewish.
Côte Saint-Luc Councillor Mike Cohen, who opposed the project based on issues with the building plan, described the controversy as the “most divisive” he’d seen in his 16 years on council. He also said that it was unfortunate that the council vote had been split 4-3 along religious lines, with Ashkenazi councillors against and Sephardi councillors in favour.
Councillor David Tordjman, who was one of the Sephardi councillors who voted in favor of the motion, denounced what he described as “alarmist rhetoric” and that there were accusations that the “nature of our community will change,” according to the Canadian Jewish News.