Saskatoon Minute: Issue 116

Saskatoon Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Saskatoon politics

📅 This Week In Saskatoon: 📅

• The Governance and Priorities Committee meets tomorrow at 9:30 am, and one of the items on its agenda is a set of proposed amendments to the City's Multi-Year Business Plan and Budget Policy. Administration is recommending removing the requirement that City Council approve an indicative property tax rate early in the budget process, with the early-year report instead presenting forecasted financial implications as information only and estimates being refined right up until budget deliberations in November or December. Council could still choose to set a tax target, but the policy would no longer require one. Administration also wants to remove the 10% limit on budget contingency for capital projects, arguing that construction market volatility makes cost pressures beyond that threshold likely even for well-managed projects and that project managers should set contingencies project by project. The revisions would also drop the policy's time limits on temporary staff positions, which Administration claims sometimes need to extend beyond the current thresholds. The changes follow the collapse of priority-based budgeting, after Council defeated the proposed criteria in March and the Committee approved a rescission motion in April. The new policy wording would also lock in last year's decision to remove the requirement that the Climate Budget report the greenhouse gas additions of capital projects.
  
  
• The same Committee will also consider a report on the implications of requiring future City-identified shelter and drop-in sites to be at least 250 meters from licensed daycares, responding to a request Council made in February while approving the purchase of 130 Idylwyld Drive North for a longer-term drop-in center. Since February 2024, the City's site selection criteria have already required new shelter sites to be at least 250 meters from elementary schools in the Saskatoon Public and Greater Saskatoon Catholic school systems. Administration warns that adding a daycare buffer would further limit the pool of potential locations, extend the time needed to find new sites, and could rule out otherwise suitable properties. The report notes that finding sites is already difficult due to a lack of suitable buildings, zoning restrictions, limited landlord interest, and high levels of community opposition. It also lists a series of questions Council would need to answer before adopting a buffer, including which types of daycares would count, whether the rule would apply to shelters, drop-in centers, or both, and whether it would cover existing facilities such as 325 Avenue C South and the Outdoor Public Washroom. The Province announced $3 million in annual funding in September 2025 to provide year-round drop-in homelessness services in Saskatoon, with the City taking the lead role in identifying locations.
  
  
• On Friday, at 11:30 am, the Saskatoon Environmental Advisory Committee will meet, and included on the agenda is a report summarizing community engagement on the City's new Climate Action Strategy. The strategy will replace both the Low Emissions Community Plan and the City's climate adaptation strategy, and is expected to go to City Council for approval in the fall. An online survey run from July to August 2025 drew 1,150 participants, with 71% agreeing that investing in climate action today will have long-term benefits, while the most commonly cited barrier to taking personal climate action was cost, at 29%. Feedback supported the City adopting higher building energy efficiency tiers, phased zero-emission vehicle requirements, and incentives for water conservation. Participants also expressed low confidence in carbon offsetting technologies and concern about public money being invested where benefits are uncertain, including small modular nuclear reactors. The work stems from Council's April 2023 decision to adopt a net-zero-by-2050 emissions target, with $250,000 from the Environmental Sustainability Reserve funding the plan refresh.
  
  
• City Council voted late last month to allow garden and garage suites on any property in the city with back-alley access, expanding eligibility from the 20 neighbourhoods where they were previously permitted. Two suites can now also be built on a property that already has a two-unit dwelling, and Council approved allowing six units on corner lots within the transit development area near the planned Link bus routes, though those developments will still need individual approval. Just 77 suites have been built in the 12 years since the City first allowed them, though 39 of those permits were issued last year and nine more applications are awaiting approval. The looser rules help fulfill commitments the City made to receive $41 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. The changes come after Saskatoon's rolling five-year infill share fell to 11.6% last year, the lowest since the City set a 25% target in 2015, and the five-year average has never cracked 15%. One submission to Council suggested a suite could be built for $80,000, with a 35% provincial rebate reducing the cost to $52,000, while a local builder cautioned that the suites mostly house family members rather than serving as standalone investments.
  
  
• The design of downtown Saskatoon's main bus rapid transit corridor is up in the air after City Council raised concerns about traffic capacity, parking, and winter operations along 1st Avenue, a key route in the planned $250-million transit network. The proposal would reduce 1st Avenue to a single lane in each direction, with the center lane dedicated to a boarding platform for the new Link system. Business groups warned that limited parking and reduced traffic flow would discourage residents from shopping downtown, and Council questioned how center-running transit would operate in winter given narrow roads and protected barriers. Transportation and Construction Director Terry Schmidt said Administration will report back to the Standing Policy Committee on Transportation later this year, when Council will be asked to give direction on the corridor's future. Partial implementation of the system is still expected in 2028. In the meantime, work continues on other components of the project, including the College Drive corridor, station platforms, bus shelters, and bus fleet renewal.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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