The treatment of commercial streets

Commercial streets, as well as shopping areas of medium- and large-sized stores, are essential components of Montréal's living environments. New buildings and landscaping, both public and private, must serve to create a convivial environment for all users in compliance with the following principles:

• Improve the urban landscape and the street wall presented by shops, shopping malls and superstores by encouraging building construction along public thoroughfares, setting building heights according to street size and limiting the number and size of driveways.
• Ensure the harmonious insertion of new buildings, particularly on traditional shopping streets, to reinforce the following characteristics:
  • Building continuity and alignment;
  • Rhythm of street-level openings and type of entrances;
  • Prevailing facade materials.
• Promote the liveliness of commercial streets by maximizing the interaction of buildings with the street, notably by multiplying openings and direct access from the sidewalk, avoiding the construction of blank walls at street level and providing uses that generate liveliness at street level, while ensuring harmonious coexistence with residential functions.
• Control commercial advertising and billboards to limit their negative effects on the built environment and the streetscape.