A provincial committee says it's working out a compromise solution for the Parc Avenue name change debacle — news that pleases some Montrealers embroiled in the debate.

The Quebec Toponymy Commission has not announced the details of the compromise it is considering. For weeks, it has been examining a controversial proposal to rename Parc Avenue after the late premier Robert Bourassa.

Thursday, La Presse reported the commission is looking at a fair way to pick a name for the downtown street that both honours Bourassa and satisfies neighbours and business owners who want Parc's name to stay the same.

Gabrielle Korn, a spokeswoman for a group of concerned neighbours called Friends of the Mountain, said a compromise would be a step in the right direction. She said she knows what kind of compromise she would like to see.

"The win-win situation would be one where the existing cultural and historic toponymies are maintained while we find solutions to commemorate people who are worthy of receiving that kind of honour," she told CBC News Thursday.

Marvin Rotrand, a city councillor for Cote-des-Neiges/N.D.G., isn't as pleased about the idea of a compromise.

"It would seem to imply that the final result is going to be something to try to accommodate the city of Montreal and in a minor way try to diffuse the anger that's out there by Montrealers," he said Thursday.

He said the toponymy commission should instead reject the proposal to rename Parc after Bourassa, a Liberal who died of skin cancer in 1996 after leading Quebec for more than 14 years.

Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay first proposed the change in mid-October, sparking outrage among some area residents and business owners.

City council approved the change in November and passed the proposal on to the toponymy commission, a government organization that oversees the naming of Quebec's bridges, roads, lakes, mountains and other sites.

Since then, about 200 residents have written letters to the commission, expressing their views.

The commission says it will announce its final decision at a later date.