The Cadre Reglementaire of 1992 classified the site under C-4A (commercial), meaning that commercial activity can occur only on the ground floor or lower. Although it had been expected that the list of allowed establishments under C-4 would not explicitly include "bath", the vaguely analogous "centre de conditionnement physique" which is among the list would allow for some opening to convince municipal officials of some functional flexibility within the site. (After looking at this research and a visit to the web site, how could they possibly refuse?) Besides the site itself—shaded in green—all immediately surrounding areas were classified as industrial as of 1992, with comparatively heavier industry taking place west of the Autoroute. The industrial zoning will meet some change, in light of the developments for the Cité du Multimédia. While the 1999 masterplan of the Cité calls for solid office development east of the Autoroute, it does not officially include the site in question to be part of its development, but only alludes to it potentially becoming a landscaped park.

RESPONSIBLE PLANNING

It appears that prior to the birth of the Cité, the City of Montreal was hoping to commercially develop the area surrounding the autoroute by allowing building heights in the range of 23 to 30 metres to be built on the northern half of the site, and a maximum of 23 metres on the southern half. Such figures would not be respectful of the masterplan's proposal to limit the height of office development to an average of four storeys, and would only serve to exacerbate the awkward urban situation already in place; it is evident that the more recent development proposal considers the sustainability of the neighbourhood as an historic district that should remain attractive to its potentially wide cross-section of users at work and play.

In terms of development density, the floor-area-ratio varies from a permitted maximum of 12 to the proposed FAR of 9, with the minimum permitted height of building to be 3 metres. There is no minimum setback from all surrounding sidewalks, thus allowing for a maximum of street presence and accessibility of the building (not buildings, since only one buiding is allowed on each part of the site.)