Municipal Matters – Sean Shaw

I was able to catch the discussion around the information item from the Municipal Planning Commission regarding garden/granny/garage suites (PDF file) at City Council this evening (February 8, 2010).

Despite the conclusions of some, community consultation over the process has indicated “broad support” for the idea of garden/granny suites, though many of those in support want to see additional clarification of the governing guidelines.

Two speakers presented on the issue (a gentleman I did not catch the name of and Mark Bobins, president Nutana Comm. Assoc.). Mark Bobins in particular put forward a good argument in favour of garden suites but with the caveat that the City undertake a broader development of an urban densification/infill policy. Mr. Bobins went further to suggest that the policy include provisions that ensure any garden suites are designed to conform with the ‘character’ of existing neighbourhoods.

In questioning the administration, Councillor Penner raised concerns that the administration would move ahead with demonstration suites before conducting further consultation and policy development. His concerns were alleviated with the admission that more consultation would indeed be undertaken and that the building of the proposed demonstration suites was not yet decided given the costs involved.

Councillor Paulsen raised concerns regarding the idea of building demonstration suites without actually hooking them up to city services, she suggested that a demonstration would be better if it was actually permanent. She raised additional concern about the policy around parking and wants to ensure that it is fully under control before tensions arise.

Councillor Clark re-iterated the concerns raised by Mr. Bobins around the need to better explore how the city could regulate the design and character of the garden suites.  Read more... (420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Filed under:
City Council, NIBMYism, Public Education, Urban Infill by Sean Shaw

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend City Council tonight due to other commitments, which means there will be no vote recording of some of the more important issues coming before Council.

If you would like to help out with VoteSaskatoon by attending Council and recording how Councillors vote, drop an email to me at info@seanshaw.ca

Filed under:
City Council, VoteSaskatoon, Voting Record by Sean Shaw

Among other activities in Saskatoon that I am a fan of, cycling is definitely near the top of that list. While cycling is my primary mode of transportation April through November, the bike usually goes into storage and I onto city transit during the winter.

However, this event will have me dusting off the bike and getting out on Saskatoon’s winter streets on Sunday Afternoon. The city has committed to plowing the roads, putting down some sand, and even giving riders an escort on a 3 km loop from the Farmer’s Market and back.

More information is available at IceCycle.ca, those who sign up are eligible for some pretty sweet discounts from many of our local cycle shops as well!

Filed under:
Cycling, Event, Public Education, Public Engagement by Sean Shaw

One of the common complaints made about Saskatoon’s downtown is the “lack of parking” available to would-be shoppers and patrons of dining and entertainment establishments. Though in-spite of this common conception of the downtown, it remains a vibrant and well populated area throughout most hours of the week and is bursting at the seams most weekend evenings.

Over the past couple of years, even more parking has been added to the downtown at the expense of some buildings – the old Folk’s Curling building (20th and 2nd Ave), the corner of 5th Ave and 24th St, and the old Chinese restaurant just north of 2nd Ave and 22nd St (lost to a fire originally, but not rebuilt to date).

To examine the charge of the lack of parking in downtown Saskatoon I decided to do a detailed assessment of all surface parking space, both public and private property. For these purposes I have defined downtown as the parcel of land bordered by 25th St. W. to the north, Idylwyld Dr to the west, and the river to the south and east. Using Google Maps, Corel Draw, and Google Streetview, I stitched together a composite map of this area. I then systematically outlined all surface parking using green boxes based on my knowledge and confirming with Google Streetview for those areas I was unsure of. Additionally, I have included all street parking. I have not included parking garages or parking structures.

Here is what I came up with:

Without having the ability to calculate the actual percentage of area covered by surface parking (which could be done with some software by calculating the amount of green relative to the background colours) I would hazard a questimate of between 25 – 35% of the entire downtown is dedicated to parking. This seems like a fairly substantial amount by any stretch of the imagination.

Filed under:
City Planning, Commentary, Infrastructure, Public Education, River Landing, Traffic, Uncategorized by Sean Shaw

Thanks to David Hutton for pointing this Provincial Government release here.

After consultation and discussions over the past year, the Provincial Government announced today that all Saskatoon cities would be moving to 4 year City Councillor and School Board Trustee terms beginning with the 2012 municipal elections.

UPDATED: I torpedo’d my original post due to some faulty salary numbers I had been dealing with. Currently, a City Councillor receives approximately $48,325 per year in compensation, much more than I was lead to believe.

Filed under:
City Council, Commentary, Province Matters by Sean Shaw