How can a small, century-old community deal with major resort development? Located in Québec’s renowned Charlevoix landscape, Petite-Rivière-Saint-François is encountering disappointing results in coping with the presence of one of eastern Canada’s largest ski resorts. Facing extensive resort development, the community decided to take the lead, to take advantage of the opportunity rather than suffer the consequences.
How can people – locals and newcomers alike – still afford to live in the community with rising housing costs from increased tourism? How can new, denser buildings fit in without disturbing the village’s traditional architecture and scale? How can a multimillion-dollar resort development help provide essential services for residents? How can visitors and the tourism industry avoid damaging the fragile landscape? This session will explore the issues and answers that figured in planning the extension of the village core.