Consult the video of the presentation.

Good evening, everyone — and thank you for taking the time to be here.

Tonight is not the beginning of the Sandy Beach file — and it is not the end of it either. It is one more step in a process that Council has been building carefully, in the open, since last summer: first the acquisition, then the financing, and now the question of whether accepting the CMM’s Trame verte et bleue subsidy is in the best interest of Hudson.

I want to start by recognizing something clearly: when a municipality considers external funding, it is normal for residents to ask hard questions. People worry about autonomy. They worry about access and overcrowding. They worry about parking, about costs, about what will change — and about whether the Town will still be able to make decisions based on Hudson’s realities.

Those questions are legitimate. And they are exactly why we are here.

What I want to be equally clear about is this: Sandy Beach was acquired to protect it — permanently — and to ensure that Hudson keeps a say in how this sensitive natural area is managed. That purpose does not change tonight. The subsidy does not change the fact that the Town remains the owner of the site, and the Town remains responsible for protecting it.

At the same time, we should not pretend there are no trade-offs. A subsidy of two million dollars matters. It reduces the financial burden on taxpayers. But it also comes with conditions — and those conditions must be understood plainly, without exaggeration, and without minimizing them either.

This evening, our goal is therefore very simple: to present the facts as they stand, to share the results of the public survey, and to put on the table the material from which Council will make its final decision at the next regular Council meeting, on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.

And although the Conservation and Management Plan has not formally begun, I want to underline this: the survey results and the comments we received are already filled with valuable information. They highlight the real concerns, the real expectations, and the practical issues we will have to address — and they will directly guide the elaboration of that plan.

We have also already learned a great deal from the survey — not only from the yes/no result, but from the comments themselves.

What came through clearly is that many residents share the same priorities, even when they disagree on the subsidy: protecting the ecological integrity of the site, managing visitor capacity, avoiding traffic and parking pressure, and ensuring that Hudson retains clear decision-making authority.

Tonight is an opportunity to present those learnings transparently, and to ensure they directly shape the next step: the Conservation and Management Plan.

Finally, I want to underline something important about continuity and governance.

Since August, Council has communicated clearly that we would be evaluating this subsidy openly, once the acquisition and financing steps were completed. Since then, we have gone through an election period and welcomed two new councillors — and yet the Town’s orientation has remained consistent: protect Sandy Beach, manage it responsibly, and keep residents informed at each major step.

That is what we are doing tonight.

Thank you again for being here. We will walk through the file in three parts: where the acquisition stands, what the subsidy actually requires, and what the next steps are — including the elaboration of the Conservation and Management Plan that will define the access model in a way that protects this land for generations.