Citizenʼs Quarter

With an objective of bringing together all of the generations of our community, the Citizen’s Quarter will be an integrated and visionary living space where everyone will have a place to socialize, move and have fun.

The concept includes several outdoor venues arranged by themes: heritage, art, youth as well as the Place de la diversité, where we will celebrate Rawdon’s rich cultural mosaic and the 40 different communities that live here.

The Citizen’s Quarter will highlight Rawdon’s built and intangible heritage.  Local shops and restaurants within the quarter will be integrated into the project, to create a dynamic and inclusive living environment. 

The Citizen’s Quarter is one of the major projects listed in Rawdon’s 2016-2030 Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development.

If it is included in this plan, it is because in 2016, during the ‘’Rêver Rawdon’’ process, citizens expressed their wish to have a space that reflected the community’s image.  A public consultation on the development of an integrated living environment was held on September 21st, 2019 at Collège Champagneur. Over 80 of Rawdon’s residents made their needs and expectations known. 

It is during this exercise that the following aspects were raised and integrated into the guidelines of the project’s design:

• The need to promote active transportation and plan to add bicycle racks and drinking water fountains onsite;

• To add a pedestrian link to the planned parking spaces found outside of the Citizen’s Quarter;

• To build a skateboard park and set up a community garden in collaboration with local partners;

• To install lighting for holding activities in the evening;

• To ensure accessibility to people with reduced mobility throughout the site;

• To integrate soundproof studios in the new library for individual or small group work;

• To give careful consideration to the energy efficiency of the buildings and to integrate sustainable solutions into the project.

On the sidelines of this project, a committee of citizens, interested in the making of the Quarter, is in charge of monitoring its evolution and ratifying the major stages.

Committee members

Aline Breault, Ashley Augland, Francis Michaud, the late Florence Hally, Gilbert Bourgeois, Josée Dulude, Maud Bordeleau, Sonia Massicotte, Édith Beauséjour, Bruno Guilbault, Nathalie Venne, Rémi Racine, Isabelle Ménard, Josianne Girard, Kimberly St-Denis, François Dauphin, Anouk Poitras-Guilbeault.

September 2019

A preliminary integrated project plan, which meets the guidelines and needs expressed by the citizens and the Municipality of Rawdon, is filed by the Massicotte Maloney architectural firm. 

In 2020

Even if it takes up a lot of the administrative team’s time, management of the health crisis does not prevent the Municipality of Rawdon from developing the Citizen’s Quarter.

In the spring and summer of 2020, several steps leading to the ground-breaking are accomplished:

• Financial evaluation

• Feasibility studies

• Site preparation

• Planning for the call for tenders

September 2020

The call for tenders is launched, to award the contract for architectural services.

The objective it to obtain the final plans and specifications for work to be carried out on the building that will house the new library (3583 Metcalfe Street – former Tinsco), to build an ecological parking lot, to undertake renovation work on the exterior of the Metcalfe Centre.

November 2020

The municipal council confirms, by resolution, the granting of the mandate for plans, specifications and supervision to the architectural firm Patriarche.

December 2020 to April 2021

Preliminary studies and preparation of specifications for the call for tenders for engineering services.

Application for financial support to the ministère de la Culture et des Communications under the cultural infrastructure program.

May 2022

The municipal council receives grants from the federal and provincial governments, which allows it to confirm the construction of the new skateboard park, a project that highlights youth diversity and which is expected to be completed in November 2022.

September 2022

Phase 1 of the integrated project, construction of the new skateboard park begins.

The citizens of Rawdon expressed their views on the nature and design of the project.  It is also the citizens who decided on the strong visual identity that will be associated with the Citizen’s Quarter.  Following a contest that ended in October 2020, they chose between two options that were inspired by the symbolism of Rawdon’s logo.

This tree, symbol of life and a unifying element rooted in the Rawdon community, will represent the Citizen’s Quarter for generations to come!