This Friday, April 12, 2024, former Ecolo mayor Jean-Luc Roland, Yves Leroy (former town planning alderman and municipal councilor Avenir – Les Engagés), Luc Boulet (former director of the University’s Urban Works Coordination) , Jacques Duponcheel (Ecolo, former president of the CPAS), Christopher Harvey and Didier Croonenborghs, two former presidents of the residents’ association of Louvain-la-Neuve (AH), organized a press conference. Their objective was twofold: not only to denounce “this worrying communication campaign of opposition to the project” but also to reaffirm their deep support for this project which provides for the creation of a minimum of 1,250 housing units on a site of around forty hectares, between the N 4 and the boulevard de Lauzelle and including the Lauzelle farm.
A petition with more than 1,800 signatures against the Athéna-Lauzelle project at UCLouvain in Louvain-la-Neuve
At the end of last February, they had already come out of the woods by signing a letter to the residents of the Lauzelle district. They therefore set the table again, after the release of a new leaflet from the committee “Save the woods of Lauzelle” and its petition. This committee also handed it over, this Thursday, to the city planning alderman of Ottawa.
“This opposition campaign deeply shocked us,” comments Jean-Luc Roland, who has lost none of his verve when it comes to defending an issue close to his heart.
“No, it will not be a new city center”
And all the more so since from the start, exaggerated and incorrect information was put forward and never corrected despite the explanations provided, he points out.
Two expressions recur among opponents, it is noted: creation of a “new city center” and “unusual density”. “The net density of the project (excluding unbuilt area), as desired by the sector plan modified in 2013, is 80 housing units per hectare, which is similar to the density of the Hocaille district and lower than that Bruyères. It will therefore not be a new city center but a district like all the other residential districts of Louvain-la-Neuve that we love.”
“No, the Lauzelle wood will not be degraded”
The committee also points out the risk of degradation of the Lauzelle wood. “An appropriate impact assessment was carried out to verify, specifically, the potential threat of the project to wood,” recalls Jean-Luc Roland. This study shows that carrying out this project is possible, provided certain protection measures have been taken (40 meter wide buffer zone between the edge of the woods and the future district, creation of a 3.5 hectare park on the former golf practice, in particular). The project will not destroy the Lauzelle wood and it will not hinder the university’s desire to improve its quality which, for the moment, is described as degraded, in particular because of its eutrophication due to agricultural activities which provide it with nitrates. But opponents are deliberately ignoring this study, probably to scare people.”
“This image is a fake made to scare”
In its leaflet, “Save the woods of Lauzelle” published a representation of the site once built. “A shocking image to strike fear. The XMU design office which carried out the local orientation plan (SOL) project was asked to evaluate the number of housing units present in this image: it estimates it at 2,170, almost double the number of the project. Another image in the leaflet is quite simply a fake made to scare. It is said that it is an image taken from the environmental impact report (RIE) but the color of the building in the Athéna-Lauzelle district has changed and is uniform. This makes us believe that a ground + 5 + roof building is the norm. This gives the impression that we want to make Athena-Lauzelle look like Blankenberg. However, this is not the case, and in the RIE, the last two floors have another color to say that they are possible but that they must remain exceptional, for signal buildings such as there are already in the current districts of Louvain-la-Neuve.”
“What value will the political world give to this petition based on disinformation?”
This misinformation is seen as a way of giving a boost to the petition “which did not meet with the hoped-for success with residents. Moreover, the majority of signatories do not live in the municipality”.
This Friday, around 3 p.m., it reached 1,907 signatures, including 533 from residents of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve.
”The question now is what will the political world do with this petition based on such disinformation and what value will they give it?” asks the former mayor. Especially since the municipal elections are scheduled for October, and we feel that the subject is sensitive. Hasn’t the public inquiry into the SOL project, an urban planning tool providing the broad outlines of the project, been extended, exceptionally, to 2 months to end on April 19?
Jean-Luc Roland and his companions also invite residents to participate to show their support for the UCLouvain project, which does not prevent critical remarks either. “We have questions, but our goal is to improve the project, so that it gets done.”
