Saskatoon Minute: Issue 120

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

📅 This Week In Saskatoon: 📅

• The Development Appeals Board will meet tomorrow at 4:00 pm to hear an appeal to the City's refusal to grant a development permit for a nearly finished home at 833 University Drive in the Nutana neighbourhood. The home was purchased from the previous owner's estate in July 2025 and a builder was hired using the plans and permits the estate provided, but the purchaser was told in May that the home did not match the drawings filed with the City. Administration issued a Stop Work and Remedy Order and later denied the permit, finding the home stands about 9.9 metres tall against an 8.5 metre limit, and exceeds the allowable side wall area and required stepback from the property line. The owner argues the variances are within the range the City treats as minor, and that the problems arose through no fault of his own after the home passed roughly nine inspections. The owner's brief says the only way to bring the home into full compliance would be to demolish and rebuild it, at significant cost and waste. The Board may confirm, revoke, or vary the City's decision.
  
  
• Saskatoon remains far short of a goal, first set nearly three decades ago, of having 10,000 people live downtown, according to a review of the target's history. The number traces back to a 1998 consultant's report that envisioned doubling the downtown population and called for 3,500 new housing units over 25 years, backed by tax incentives to encourage developers to build in the core. The city's overall population has since climbed past 318,000, well beyond what that study projected, but the downtown count reached only 3,679 residents last year, in about 2,821 residential units. Downtown's share of the city's population has fallen from roughly 2.5% when the study was written to about 1.1% today. Successive mayors and plans set even higher targets over the years, including a 2013 city centre plan that imagined 15,000 downtown residents, yet several large towers pitched for the core never went ahead. City officials point to the added cost and complexity of building downtown compared with new neighbourhoods on the edge of the city, which is the reasoning behind the incentives and tax breaks.
  
  
• The typical price of a Saskatoon home reached a new record of $448,400 in June, roughly $92,000 higher than the $356,400 benchmark in Regina, according to figures from the Saskatchewan Realtors Association. Saskatoon posted 589 sales in June, among its strongest on record and 22% above its 10-year average, while new listings rose 17% from a year earlier. Even so, the city reported the tightest market in the province, with inventory 43% below its 10-year average and only 1.6 months of supply heading into July. Provincewide, the benchmark price climbed to a record $385,900, up nearly 5% over the year, with all six economic regions posting year-over-year sales growth. The Association says that demand rather than supply is now the defining feature of the market, with buyers purchasing homes almost as quickly as they are listed.
  
  
• Saskatoon's shared e-scooters are set to change hands this summer, with Neuron Mobility being taken over by Lime across 12 Canadian communities, including Regina and Saskatoon. Transportation officials said they had no advance warning of the takeover and plan to check that the new Lime units meet the speed and location restrictions set out in the existing operating permit. E-scooters first arrived in Saskatchewan in 2023 and are now in their third season in the province. 
  
  
• Downtown Saskatoon held its annual Sidewalk Sale from Thursday to Saturday, marking the event's 40th anniversary with more than 100 retailers, artisans, food vendors, and community partners along 21st Street and Second Avenue. Alongside the sale, Downtown Saskatoon hosted its Legends Downtown ceremony on Thursday at 3:00 pm in Pocket Park on the 100 block of 21st Street, recognizing two businesses for their long-standing contributions to the core. This year's honoree was Bateman Jewellers, founded in 1945 and now the city's oldest independent jeweller, alongside the 2025 honoree, Saskatoon Business College, founded in 1907. The ceremony included the unveiling of permanent commemorative plaques and remarks from community leaders, with Reddee Properties sponsoring the plaque installation. The Sidewalk Sale has run each summer since 1979, and organizers said this year's event featured expanded programming, live entertainment, and family activities intended to draw shoppers into the downtown core.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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