The extension of metro B, the future sustainable district of La Saulaie, there are many projects in Oullins over the coming years. But also in the shorter term, from 2021. Decryption of the next deadlines for the city with the mayor of the town, Clotilde Pouzergue.
After Rillieux-la-Pape (read here), Vaulx-en-Velin (read here), Caluire-et-Cuire (read here), Meyzieu (read here), LyonCapitale.fr stops at Oullins. What are the challenges of tomorrow for Oullins?
Elements of response with the mayor of the municipality of the Métropole de Lyon of 26,800 inhabitants, Clotilde Pouzergue.
THE medium-term project in Oullins is the renovation of the Saulaie district. Can you explain to us where it is?
CLOTHILDE POUZERGUE. It is indeed our major project that has been the case for several years: the urban project of La Saulaie, the future sustainable district. We are now really going to enter, in 2021, a slightly more operational phase. Mid-March 2021, we should know the name of the urban planner chosen as part of a call for tenders, the architect who will be responsible for the consistency of the 40 hectare project, both on the landscape study , the town planning study, the coherence of the project. It is a project that mixes housing, activity, commerce, public facilities. There is a part wasteland on 20 hectares completely to be developed and an older neighborhood part that will have to be included in the reflection so that the inhabitants do not feel forgotten by the new project. It’s a great job, a great challenge.
La Saulaie, we are at the southern entrance to the Metropolis of Lyon, it is also a landmark project for the Metropolis. There are already specifications, we know that we will have 800 housing units throughout the area, but also 65,000m2 of activities, 5,000m2 of shops, a new school with 14 classes, a new gymnasium, a new nursery, sports equipment.
We agree enough with the new executive of the Metropolis, compared to the initial specifications, to say that the share of public spaces, and in particular green spaces, was not ambitious enough. There will undoubtedly be things to review on this point.
What does it change for Oullins the extension of metro B to the Hôpitaux-Sud, in Saint-Genis-Laval (planned for 2023)?
It will change things a lot, we will no longer be the end point. We have a relay park with 450 places at the Oullins station, with significant traffic. In 2023, we will have a 2e station in downtown Oullins, which will truly be a local station and above all the terminus will be at Hôpitaux-Sud, in Saint-Genis-Laval. We imagine that we will have a whole traffic that will no longer pass through Oullins at all. The objective of many travelers, it will no longer be the terminus of Oullins but it will be Saint-Genis-Laval. It is quite possible that the existing park and ride (at Oullins station) will be used much less. We think about it, to see if we do an abundance with the future buildings that are going to be built. Because we will no longer be able to accommodate so many parking spaces.
At the town center station, on the church square, we were told 15,000 people / day who would come on foot. For Oullinois, in 2023, almost 80% of the population will be within a 15-minute walk of one of the three metro stations (Gare d’Oullins, Oullins-center or Hôpitaux-Sud). It can also change the way of getting around quite a bit.
On the church square, we will launch a new consultation in the fall of 2021 to find out what to do with this square. Before the metro works, it hosted a market twice a week which has been relocated. Do we put the market back or not? This is a very important question. And how do you organize this place to make it attractive? There is also work to be done in terms of development to make access to the “Oullins-center” station very secure, in particular for pedestrians and soft modes. It means a lot of work on the traffic plan of the city center, not only the Main Street, but also the streets and adjoining areas. We have already held a lot of meetings, it is a work that we will continue to carry out in order to be ready in 2023. The Main Street is the most famous street but to calm the roads around the city center, it is also for me an extremely important stake. One of the streets leading to the church square has already been recently pedestrianized.
Since July 2019, Oullins has moved to zone 30. What conclusions do you draw from this passage in zone 30?
It is a rather positive result in terms of mentalities. Cycling associations tell us that. They have the feeling that the speed has dropped. By hammering out a certain number of messages, we understand that tomorrow, we will have to share the roads. We still have to make adjustments. Scoring big “30s” on the ground is not enough. There are already changes that have been made, but we have to go even further. The reflection around the traffic plan in the city center contributes to this appeasement of speed.
We have also deployed some educational radars to support this measure. In some neighborhoods we are told that the speed is still too high. We need to support, it does not happen overnight. We are going to go a little further on the verbalization because unfortunately there is only that that people understand. We are looking to acquire a radar that is not only educational but more repressive. Especially around schools, where we really need to protect the most fragile, that is to say pedestrians.
Some cities of the Lyon Metropolis are experiencing very strong demographic growth. Not Oullins. Why ? And will it evolve?
Oullins, this is the 3e densest city in the Metropolis after Lyon and Villeurbanne. We are a small area, 440 hectares. We know that we will gain 2,000 inhabitants with the future district of La Saulaie, it is a prospect for 15 years. The objective is obviously not to exceed 30,000 inhabitants (26,976 currently). Because afterwards, in terms of density, that would be too much. We have to maintain our quality of life. And then, afterwards, in terms of public facilities, that also has implications.
On the whole of the commune, we regained the population that we had lost a lot in the 70s. By dint of redeveloping the city for 25 years now. In terms of buildings, there is hardly any land available in Oullins, apart from obviously in La Saulaie, except for small operations.
With the arrival of the metro, Oullins has also become very attractive …
Yes, we have seen house prices rise very sharply. We have Lyonnais who come to settle because for the price of an apartment in Lyon, they can find a small house in Oullins. Afterwards, houses become more and more rare and therefore more and more expensive. It is not without difficulty, moreover. The idea is also to ensure that everyone can have an accessible residential route. This is the goal of the future district at La Saulaie: to have a whole bunch of different products so that everyone can find a product that is accessible to them according to their means and wishes. Both social housing, social access and free access.
On mobility, you are rather well served in Oullins
Yes. We are not to be pitied. What is more complicated is the connection with the east of the Metropolis. For the Oullinois who will be working on the Eastern Plain, in terms of public transport, it is not easy. Otherwise in terms of isolation, we still have the problem of the Mulatière bridge. With the decommissioning of the A6-A7, all work started by 2030, it is hoped that things will improve.
On soft modes, we have been defending the idea of having a bridge between La Saulaie and Gerland for several years (Lyon 7e) so that cyclists no longer have to cross this famous Mulatière bridge even if once again improvements have been made. Studies will be launched in terms of feasibility to see if this is something possible. We hope that the executive of the Metropolis will push in this direction.
In terms of security, will adjustments be made to Oullins in 2021?
In Oullins, we are already well equipped, we have an urban supervision center with video operators behind the cameras. We reinforced our municipal police force, we gradually armed them. The objective, over the year 2021, is to strengthen the workforce a little (1 or 2 over the year) to complete the workforce of the national police, which is rather declining. On Oullins, there is no explosion of delinquency as other municipalities in the Metropolis can experience. We are a fairly peaceful town from that point of view, even if I am not saying that nothing is happening, I am not in the spirit of angelism. In 2021, we will deploy some additional cameras, at least 3. Which will be added to the 32 we have today.
A new school will be born in Oullins in 2021?
Yes, we have a major restructuring of the Glacière school, one of the districts of Oullins. One of the characteristics of Oullins is that each district has its school. We have 10 school groups, 12 schools. The Glacière school was built in the 1960s. It had been extended with prefabricated buildings. Today, kindergarten is in prefabricated buildings. It was urgent to build a permanent kindergarten. It’s in progress. It should be delivered before the summer of 2021. At the start of the school year, we will install elementary school children in this new nursery school at first. To completely rehabilitate the elementary school, in particular to make a major energy renovation. Then after, in September 2022, we will switch back the children when the work is finished.
We will also launch a plan for the revegetation of our schoolyards during the mandate (2021-2026), the Glacière will undoubtedly be the first to be affected by these major exterior renovations. We have a big project to build a school canteen inside the school grounds as well because today the children leave school to go to lunch in a building outside. Afterwards, we are lucky in Oullins, the municipality has invested a lot over the past 20 years in both school and cultural heritage, we have a media library which we celebrated its 10th anniversary. In terms of equipment, we have schools in rather very good condition, well maintained.
Next meeting: Décines-Charpieu
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