The role and scope of the complementary document

The complementary document is an integral part of the Master Plan. The inclusion of the complementary document in the Master Plan is required by the Charter of the Ville de Montréal and addresses Montréal’s specific context, where urban planning and regulatory powers are shared by the City and its boroughs.

In essence, the complementary document deals with some of the issues outlined in the Master Plan (goals, objectives, actions and implementation measures) in order to protect, enhance and develop the key features that give Montréal its urban character and overall identity. It also aims to ensure the coherence of urban development across the City. To achieve this, it translates selected issues from the Plan into rules and criteria that will be integrated into the boroughs’ urban planning by-laws. The boroughs will use the rules and criteria established by the complementary document as minimum guidelines, refining them when necessary.

It is important to note that many of these rules and criteria appear in the complementary document that was adopted in October 2003 and are generally reiterated or updated in the present complementary document.

This document identifies the objectives of the Master Plan selected for regulatory control purposes and specifies applicable rules and criteria.

This complementary document replaces the earlier one and requires the boroughs to amend their existing by-laws accordingly.

Finally, the complementary document is an evolving instrument that will be updated along with the Master Plan, which is the municipal reference document for any actions pertaining to urban development within the City.