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Council Approved the 24-Unit Church Street Project. Residents Had Until July 16 to Demand a Referendum.

Council adopted the second draft resolution for PPCMOI 2026-041 on July 6. Residents in zones R-7, R-6 and R-8 had until 4:30 p.m. on July 16 to require that any of its six zoning departures be submitted to a vote. That window has now closed.

By The Ormstown Observer  ·  July 11, 2026  ·  Ormstown, Québec
Update — the window has closed The eight-day period described below ended on July 16, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. This article is kept online as a record of the procedure and the deadline as they stood at the time of publication; the instructions and the signature form below are no longer actionable. The Observer is continuing to report on what happened after the window closed, and will publish a follow-up.

On July 6, 2026, Ormstown council adopted the second draft resolution for a 24-unit residential development on rue Church, next to the Le Toit Vert restaurant. The decision was not the last word: residents had a short, defined window — closing July 16 at 4:30 p.m. — to require that some or all of the project be submitted to a referendum.

Filed as PPCMOI 2026-041 by Yannick P. Michel on behalf of Groupe Firma inc., the project would sit on lot 6 455 729, in zone R-7. Municipal documents describe it as a projet intégré domiciliaire: four multifamily buildings of six units each — 24 units in total. Council held a public consultation on July 2 and adopted the second draft resolution four days later. The municipality issued the public notice opening the referendum-request window on July 8, signed by director general and clerk-treasurer Daniel Leduc.

The project

  • What — four multifamily buildings, three storeys, six dwellings each: 24 dwellings
  • Where — lot 6 455 729, next to Le Toit Vert, 52 rue Church, zone R-7
  • Applicant — Yannick P. Michel, for Groupe Firma inc.
  • Process — PPCMOI 2026-041; second draft resolution adopted July 6, 2026
  • Referendum window — eight days to request referendum approval; closed July 16, 2026 at 4:30 p.m.
Municipal public notice sign on the vacant lot at 52 rue Church announcing PPCMOI 2026-041, a 24-unit development beside Le Toit Vert.
The on-site public notice on lot 6 455 729, beside Le Toit Vert, announcing PPCMOI 2026-041. Photo: The Ormstown Observer.

What the project changes

A PPCMOI lets a municipality authorize a specific project that departs from its zoning by-law. According to the public notice, this project departs from Ormstown zoning by-law 148-2023 in six ways:

Six departures from by-law 148-2023

  • Units — the by-law allows 4 units per multifamily building in R-7; the project proposes 6.
  • Height — the by-law caps buildings at 2 storeys / 11 m; the project proposes 3 storeys / 13 m.
  • Rear margin — art. 14.9 requires a 9 m rear isolation margin; the project proposes 6 m.
  • Lane width — art. 9.13 requires a 6.7 m two-way lane; the project proposes 6 m.
  • Vegetated buffer — art. 9.8 requires a 2 m planted strip; the project narrows it to 1.3 m in the south-east, by the parking area.
  • Access spacing — art. 9.27 requires 30 m between access lanes; the project has 27.4 m.

The approval procedure applies separately to each of the six provisions, so residents may target one, several, or all of them.

How to require a referendum

To require that a provision be submitted to qualified voters, a written request must meet four conditions:

  1. Come from an eligible zone — the concerned zone R-7, or the contiguous zones R-6 and R-8.
  2. Identify what it targets — the specific provision(s), and the zone the request comes from.
  3. Carry enough signatures — at least 12 interested persons from that zone (or a majority, if the zone has 21 or fewer).
  4. Arrive on time — received at the hôtel de ville, 5 rue Gale, by mail or in person no later than July 16, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. If mailed, it must arrive by the deadline regardless of postal delays.

Who counts as an "interested person"

  • An adult Canadian citizen, not under protective supervision and not otherwise disqualified from voting, who as of July 16 either —
  • has been domiciled in an eligible zone for at least 6 months (and resident in Québec at least 6 months), or
  • has for at least 12 months owned property or occupied a business establishment in an eligible zone.

The second draft resolution and the zone map can be consulted for free at the hôtel de ville during business hours, and on ormstown.ca under Actualités → Avis publics.

The form the law required The deadline for filing has passed and this form can no longer be submitted. It is left here as part of the record: the Observer prepared a bilingual signature form mirroring the conditions set out in the municipality's notice. View the request form (PDF).

Where the Observer stands

The Ormstown Observer takes no position on the merits of this project. It is publishing the process, the deadline, and the signature form as a public-information service, so that residents who wish to exercise the right set out in Québec's Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities can do so within the time the law allows. The Observer will keep following the file as part of its Referendum Window Watch coverage.

Sources: municipal public notice for PPCMOI 2026-041, dated July 8, 2026 (Daniel Leduc, DG and clerk-treasurer); zoning by-law 148-2023; Loi sur l'aménagement et l'urbanisme, art. 145.38; Loi sur les élections et les référendums dans les municipalités. This is a developing file; the Observer will update it as the referendum-approval process unfolds.