More than 100 angry people stormed a Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough committee  meeting Tuesday night to protest a residential development they say will encroach on precious green space.

The Montreal borough's urban advisory committee is considering a 250-housing-unit project that would spread over nine hectares along the Rivières des Prairies shoreline, in a picturesque area known as Rapides du Cheval Blanc.

West Island residents packed a borough meeting Tuesday to protest a housing project they say threatens green space in the region.
(Melissa Kent, CBC)

Although the municipal council has taken preliminary steps to preserve part of the land slotted for development, local residents are concerned the project will ruin the shoreline.

Peter Stroubakis has lived next to the site for three years. He's concerned the wildlife that lives along the shore will be chased away if more homes are built.

"There [are] birds I've never seen before. There's hawks in the air. Foxes everywhere …. We're literally picking up turtles from our front yard. It's pretty impressive. And I feel like we are really imposing on nature.

"We are. And I feel bad being there … now they're trying to develop a whole area next to it. It's ridiculous," he told CBC.

Pierrefonds could set an example for the rest of the city and protect the green space completely, instead of building on it, said environmentalists at the meeting.

Montreal already lags behind other Canadian cities when it comes to preserving green spaces, said David Fletcher, a spokesman for the Green Coalition.

"Toronto is three times better off. Vancouver is seven times better off. And of 20 Canadian municipalities, Montreal is at the dead bottom."

Residents shouldn't get too concerned about which future awaits the local fauna and flora, borough officials insisted.

"Seventy-three per cent of the land of this park will [remain] park. Less than 25 per cent will be built [on]," said Christian Dubois, a municipal councillor in the borough.

The borough will vote on the project in January 2007.