Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Territorial context of the project
urban development plan is the one that was applicable to the territory belonging to the
former City of Lévis; it has been in force since 1991. The most relevant by-law is the
Lévis zoning by-law No. 234 (DB65; DB64; DB63). The main elements of the land use
regulatory framework in the project study area appear on Figure 5.
In the land use planning and development plan, the designated use that covers the
largest part of the site is industry and port activities (DB27, p. 1). It includes two areas.
One reaches more or less from highway 132 to the Jean-Lesage highway, between
Lallemand Road and the Beaumont limits. The other, in the river, runs along the shore
for about 1 km starting from the Beaumont limit. The land between highway 132 and
the river is assigned as an “extra-urban area”.
The industrial and port use provided for in the plan aimed to “recognize a site that lent
itself particularly well to large scale industry and deepwater port construction” and to
“protect this part of the MRC territory against uncontrolled interventions likely to harm
the industrial vocation” (ibid., p. 5 and 6). At the same time, in reference to the long
lead time required for industrial projects, the plan points out that uses in the areas of
agriculture, forestry, and different types of housing are compatible with the industry
and port activities (ibid., p. 9). As regards the assignment for an “extra-urban area”
between highway 132 and the river, this concerns “a concentration of year-round or
seasonal residences” outside the urbanized perimeter (DB65, p. II-32).
In the 1991 Master Plan, the land between the Jean-Lesage expressway and highway
132 was given two uses that would overlap, namely “heavy and large-scale industry”
and “agriculture”. In conformity with the land use plan, the Master Plan intends to
“recognize the industrial and port potential of Lévis with its choice site located in the
St. Lawrence Seaway corridor” (DB27, p. 12) and to “develop a major port
infrastructure” (DB27.1). It also includes “as a compatible use a technical corridor
between the potential port infrastructure host site and the area that could possibly
host heavy or medium to large-scale industry” (DB27, p. 12). Finally, it calls for, on a
temporary basis, “agricultural or comprehensive uses that do not jeopardize the
industrial and port potential of the sector” (ibid., p. 3).
Under the Lévis zoning by-law, the project site overlaps five zones (DB63; DB27,
p. 4). The two largest zones stretch from the Jean-Lesage expressway to the edge of
highway 132. These zones encompass two main types of uses: on the one hand,
agriculture and forestry, and on the other, various commercial, industrial, and
recreational uses. The third zone is a strip about 60 m deep, running along the south
side of highway 132 starting from the Beaumont limit. Agriculture with no livestock and
isolated single-family and two-family dwellings are authorized.
Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure 99