Saskatoon Minute: Issue 131

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

📅 This Week In Saskatoon: 📅

• The Municipal Planning Commission will meet tomorrow at 12:00 pm. Included on the agenda is a proposal to allow billboards on City-controlled road right-of-way at three locations as a way to raise revenue. Council had generally rejected billboards on right-of-way over the years, ending all such licence agreements except one at Circle Drive and Airport Drive in 2022, before directing Administration to pursue them during the 2024/2025 budget deliberations. Administration projects the three sites would bring in about $75,000 a year in lease revenue, well short of the $200,000 a year highlighted during the budget process, which assumed up to eight locations. Busier roads like Circle Drive could have earned upwards of $25,000 per billboard, but were passed over because of concerns about distracting drivers at higher speeds. The University of Saskatchewan opposes a site on Attridge Drive, arguing it would add sign clutter at a gateway to the campus, while two residents raised concerns about bright digital billboards and the likelihood that more locations would follow. Administration says it will consider further locations once the first three are taken up by the industry, and the changes will go to a public hearing at City Council.
  
  
• City Council voted 7-4 last Wednesday to approve bus-only lanes in each direction down the middle of First Avenue downtown, from 20th Street to 25th Street. The lanes are a key part of the $262-million Link transit project and will eliminate 59 downtown parking stalls, along with some left turns for regular motorists. Ward 10 Councillor Zach Jeffries, Ward 8 Councillor Scott Ford, Ward 3 Councillor Robert Pearce, and Ward 4 Councillor Troy Davies voted against. Downtown Saskatoon and the North Saskatoon Business Association had commissioned their own engineering review, which recommended limiting the bus-only lanes to the stretch from 25th Street to 23rd Street. Council also narrowly voted to cut the $500,000 public art budget from Link, but Ward 2 Councillor Senos Timon later asked to reconsider and changed his vote, restoring the spending 6-5. Council directed Administration to engage further with downtown businesses and others concerned about the plan. City officials say Link is still planned to launch in 2028, after originally being due to launch four years ago.
  
  
• Also on last Wednesday's Council agenda was a report recommending that the City apply for provincial disaster assistance after residents reported property damage from the September 7th storm, which dropped around 80 millimetres of rain on the city. The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program covers uninsurable damage from severe weather, and a community qualifies with either one claim over $5,000 or several smaller claims totalling more than $25,000. The report claims that, based on calls received to date, Saskatoon has met those requirements. Homeowners can claim up to $500,000 for a principal residence, and small businesses and non-profits up to $3 million, with some costs of preventive measures such as sump pumps and backflow valves also eligible. Council's approval is needed before the City Solicitor's office can apply to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, and residents who contacted the City are to be told how to apply. The City says many neighbourhoods were built to storm water standards from before 1989 that did not account for high-intensity storms, and it is partway through a nine-year program of storm water upgrades.
  
  
• Chief Financial Officer Clae Hack says it is too early to quantify how the trade war with the United States will affect the City's costs. Around 98% of the City's purchases come from Canadian vendors, but Hack warned that those vendors may face tariff impacts within their own supply chains. He says the effect will depend on government support programs, how much of the tariff costs are passed on to consumers, and how long the tariffs last. The City's mid-year financial forecast already projects an overall civic deficit of $4.5 million. That includes a $4.2-million deficit in transportation, driven largely by snow and ice management, where actual costs have consistently come in above budget. Taxation and general revenue is also projected to fall $1.1 million short, partly offset by surpluses of $1.7 million in recreation and culture and $388,000 in environmental health. The City has a fiscal stabilization reserve of $16.3 million that can be drawn on if it ends the year in deficit.
  
  
• Ward 10 Councillor Zach Jeffries brought a motion to City Council last Wednesday asking Administration to report on how decisions about construction work and road closures are made, and how the process could be improved. The City announced in May that 2026 would be its busiest construction year in history, including sewer upgrades in Nutana and the Link bus lanes on College Drive, which kept College Drive and the University Bridge closed for months. Jeffries pointed to McOrmond Drive, where daytime repaving created a "traffic nightmare" until the City halted the work and moved it overnight. In Nutana, the manager of a cafe on 14th Street reports a drop in business of 10% to 15% compared to last year, as drivers run into new closures while detouring around old ones. The intersection of Dufferin Avenue and 12th Street East closed on September 23rd for about six weeks of sewer work, which the City says cannot be put off because it replaces an aging lift station. Jeffries says next year is shaping up as another major year for construction.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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