Gatineau council votes against police HQ in Robert-Guertin Centre lot

• UPDATE | On March 17, Gatineau's mayor said the March 21 vote was postponed to offer more public consultation.

Gatineau, Que.,city council is moving away from a proposal to build a new police headquarters in theparking lot of the Robert-Guertin Centre.

Five locations were proposed and the Robert-Guertin site near boulevard desAllumettiresin Hull was favoured by city administration andMayor France Blisle.

An emergency shelterand supervised injection site also sits across thatparking lot. Some were worried about whata heightened police presence in the area would mean for peoplewho use those services.

After Wednesday's meeting, it appears there is support instead for anew headquarters further north in Hautes-Plaineson boulevard de la Technologie alongside autoroute 5.

The final vote is scheduled for March 21.

The vote taking Robert-Guertin off the table is welcome news for Daniel Cayley-Daoust, president of the Association des Rsidants de l'le de Hull.

His association, alongside others, has demanded that the Robert-Guertin site be used for anotherpurpose, such asa community centre.

"In the context of downtown revitalization, the site has enormous potential to meet the needs of the local community," he said in French.

"My choice until the end of my mandate, then in the next one, will remain Guertin," Blislesaid in French. "And I will always say that, in my opinion, the HQ should have gone to Guertin."

The Robert-Guertin Centre was the home of the Gatineau Olympiques juniorhockey team until their move to the new Centre Slush Puppie in 2021.

Gatineau police need a new headquarters because their current locationis peggedfor a new hospital.