The City of Côte Saint Luc and longtime councillor Mike Cohen are facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit that has reignited decades of tension. A company owned by businessman Gary Azimov has filed an eight million one hundred fifty thousand dollar claim accusing the city and Cohen of using delay tactics and bureaucratic obstacles to block a zoning change and benefit a neighboring synagogue, Beth Chabad of Côte Saint Luc. The lawsuit alleges a disguised expropriation, claiming that by refusing for years to allow residential construction on a vacant lot beside the synagogue, the city effectively stripped the land of its value without compensation.
According to the claim, Azimov bought the property in 2018 when it was zoned for commercial use. After nearly two years without a viable business project, he applied to rezone the land for a six storey, thirty unit residential building. Between 2019 and 2025 every request was rejected. The filing says Cohen, who represents the district, pressured Azimov to meet with Rabbi Mendel Raskin of Beth Chabad and suggested donating the lot to the synagogue in exchange for a charitable tax receipt. When Azimov refused and later declined a request to let the synagogue use his land for parking, Cohen allegedly became annoyed and the process ground to a halt. Azimov argues that the property would be worth about eight million dollars more if the rezoning had been approved, and he is seeking one hundred thousand dollars in punitive damages from the city and fifty thousand from Cohen personally.
Cohen denies any wrongdoing. In a written statement to La Presse he said, “I fulfilled my duties as a city councillor and opposed this project because it is the position my constituents wanted me to take.” He also said the city’s Urban Planning Advisory Committee examined the plan and voted against it before it ever reached council.
The dispute touches one of Côte Saint Luc’s most sensitive corners. Beth Chabad sits at the intersection of Kildare Road and Marc Chagall Avenue, directly across from JPPS Elementary School and Bialik High School. The area is a daily choke point for traffic, school buses, and synagogue visitors. Parents line up along Kildare during drop-off and pick-up hours, residents struggle to exit side streets, and congestion has been a flashpoint in local politics for years. Efforts to ease the gridlock have included new stop signs, no-stopping zones, and public consultations, but frustrations remain. The idea of adding a large apartment building next to that intersection drew intense opposition from nearby homeowners long before this lawsuit was filed.
Beth Chabad itself has a long and complicated history with city hall. Founded in 1986 by Rabbi Mendel and Sarah Raskin, the congregation began in a small duplex before expanding through temporary spaces as it grew. In 1999 the synagogue attempted to build near Cavendish Mall, triggering a major public backlash over noise, parking, and traffic. Close to one thousand residents signed a petition to block the rezoning, and after a deadlocked vote the mayor had to cast the deciding ballot. The city ultimately backed down and Beth Chabad relocated its plans to the Kildare site. A few years later the city sold land there to the synagogue at just over the municipal evaluation, a deal reapproved after the municipal mergers of the early 2000s. Construction began in 2005 and the synagogue’s distinctive structure now anchors the area. Former Cote Saint Luc councillor and current Mayoral candidate David Tordjman was the synagogue’s spokesman at the time.
That same intersection has been the subject of repeated battles over parking, density, and road safety. Parents at JPPS and Bialik have complained about congestion during religious holidays, while nearby residents have petitioned against new construction that could worsen the problem. The addition of a high-rise apartment building beside the synagogue was always likely to spark opposition.
At the heart of the legal fight is Quebec’s principle of disguised expropriation, which allows property owners to seek compensation when government decisions or regulations deprive them of meaningful use of their land. Azimov argues that the city’s delays and rejections left his property worthless, while the city is expected to argue it followed proper procedures and acted within its planning authority.
The case is unusual because it names a sitting councillor personally. Montreal has seen its share of scandals over development, including former councillor Saulie Zajdel’s 2015 guilty plea for corruption and breach of trust, and former interim mayor Michael Applebaum’s 2017 conviction for fraud and corruption involving developers. Cohen’s situation is civil, not criminal, but it touches the same uneasy space where politics, power, and land use intersect.
If Azimov wins, municipalities across Quebec could face new limits on how long and how firmly they can resist development. If the city prevails, it will reaffirm that councillors can act on community sentiment and planning advice without fear of being sued. Either way, in Côte Saint Luc, where schools, synagogues, and politics crowd the same few blocks, the ruling will reach far beyond one disputed piece of land.
