It is hard to believe the month is nearly over! June has been a busy month of gatherings, celebrations, and community building. The Pleasant Hill community hosted their Pow Wow earlier this month after a two year break. The event brought together young and old to dance, listen to the drum, and spend time together in community. Sudden hot weather couldn't keep us from filling downtown streets with the Pride parade, and while the Rock your Roots walk for Reconciliation had to be cancelled due to weather concerns, other gatherings proceeded for National Indigenous People's Day on Tuesday and all are being encouraged to take their own walk of reconciliation. Opportunities to engage in National Indigenous History Month continue and it's never too late to learn the real history of this place, and about the history of Indigenous people.

In the Ward 2 section below you'll find several land use applications in the area - on Mountbatten and on 20th Street, and updates about the Circle Drive West planning study as well as work on the Blairmore Sector Plan.

As always, if you have feedback on any issues on the Council agenda (list at the bottom of this email), I commit to reading all emails I receive before Monday's 1pm meeting. To have all of Council read your feedback, correspondence needs to be received by the Clerk before 10am Monday.

Ward 2

Mountbatten St. Care Home
Engagement on a Discretionary Use application in Montgomery for expanded capacity at a residential care home will continue with a public meeting on July 6th. Background and engagement process here.

Tavern at 334 20th Street
POP Wine Bar is seeking approval to operate as a Tavern. This is a discretionary use and details of the application can be viewed here. Feedback is being sought before July 1.

Circle Drive West - study
A new recommended long term plan for Circle Drive West has been released. Administration intends to bring this to City Council for consideration in August. Some concerns have been addressed in this new plan, and questions that were previously unanswered have been answered (see FAQ section on webpage). The greatest change for Ward 2 residents would relate to the exit at 11th Street. Overall this would see residents West of 11th encounter a greater volume of train traffic with this exit, while residents East would encounter none at all. The change isn't ideal, but if paired with an overpass in future (which is on the long term infrastructure list - the same list this project would go on), train delays could become a thing of the past for residential access off Circle Drive west. I understand there is lots of interest in the plan. Please take a look and don't hesitate to reach out to the Transportation engineers with your questions. I am open to receiving any feedback, and of course, the August Council meeting will be an important place to share feedback as well. 

17th St Extension
On Monday's agenda, there will be a discussion about next steps to determine whether the 17th street extension is required, and how it interplays with Industrial issues in the area. Thank you to the members of the Ward 2 Civics Committee for helping me sort through this complex file in advance of the meeting. The report can be found here. I intend to seek support to proceed with both options: engaging King George and Holiday Park soon about the neighbourhood-level traffic, and then continuing the work with the West Industrial Concept Plan when the industrial interface study is done. 

Blairmore Sector Plan Amendment
The City is engaging with various stakeholders and community partners on the proposed Blairmore Sector Plan Amendment to understand interests related to the project. A second phase of engagement with residents, stakeholders, and community partners will occur later in 2022 to receive feedback on the draft final design of the Blairmore Sector Plan Amendment. Learn more about the sector and project here.

Community Safety & Wellbeing

Temporary Shelter - Permanent Plans
Now that the extension is in place to enable STC to operate the Wellness Centre shelter downtown on 1st Avenue, I've had a number of questions from residents about their permanent plans. These are not known fully at this time, but I am working to learn what I can and ensure that residents and stakeholders in any area that will be the future home of shelter services have access to information about plans well ahead of any change or decision.

Housing Continuum report
As conversations about the need to fill gaps in the housing continuum in Saskatoon continue, we've received another information report to help capture the City's role to add to the current state report from last month. I have moved a recommendation to see reporting back about how to regain the financial capacity needed to continue this role and evolve it as well. The source funds have dried up and we need new solutions. This will be discussed Monday. 

Updates and Decisions

Farmers Market Building
The City received a grant from the Federal government to cover half of the capital costs to upgrade the Farmers Market Building. This will allow us to enhance a few systems to a higher level. Construction is expected to begin in early Fall 2022 with an opening date of the new indoor Public Market in late spring 2023. In the meantime, the outdoor farmers market is operating on this site on Saturdays until October 8 and the Farmers Market Cooperative operates Saturdays and Sundays at its Koyl Ave Location.

Rain Event
Curious about how that new storm pond worked during the storm on Monday? It worked great. More about the full rain event and response here. 

Parking App
As you've likely heard, transition from WaytoPark to ParkedIn will be complete on July 1st, so it's time to download the new app! There have been a few hiccups with it, but things are being sorted out, and I used it successfully this past week. Improvements will continue. 

Engagement opportunities

As always, there is so much going on. Engagement opportunities (including those mentioned above) are available at www.saskatoon.ca/engage

Community Updates

Community Association cleanups
Congratulations to all Community Associations and community volunteers who made cleanups such a success this spring. The impact that you as volunteers are having in your neighbourhoods is awesome. It was so much fun to join you - we lucked out with good weather for each one this year which made it even better! 

The reports I received show that in total, Ward 2 neighbours cleaned up 29,990kg of waste this spring! 

Seasonal fun! 
- All outdoor pools are now open. Check them out! 

Construction
A number of larger construction projects (roadways and asset preservation such as water main replacement) are taking place in Ward 2 this upcoming season. Impacted residents are encouraged to sign up for regular updates for the projects in their area by email. More information at www.saskatoon.ca/construction 

City Council | June 27th

City Council meets virtually on Monday. Brief highlights are outlined below. Click here to find the full agenda. Council continues to meet virtually. Correspondence on Council items can be made in writing or as a request to speak (accommodated by phone). Meetings will continue to be live streamed.

Regular Business Meeting  |  1:00 PM
  - Green Infrastructure implementation plan 
  - Solar PV pre-design study
  - Residential Speed limit - speed watch program
  - 17th Street extension - project review
  - Service Disruptions at Transit - investigation
  - Farmers Market Update - funding & timing
  - Mountain Bike Alliance - agreement
  - Housing Continuum - City's role
  - Innovative Housing Incentives - project funding
  - Leasing Civic Buildings - policy amendments
  - Nutana Pioneer Cemetery - geophysics research
  - Small Dog Off-leash parks 
  - Wheaton Lands expropriation - freeway lands
  - Inquiry - Design standards for washrooms
  - Equity investments - research
  - Acquisition - 219 5th Ave N
  - Multi-Year Business Plan and Budget - Term amendment
  - Appointments - various
  - Rain event response - June 20
  - Rotary Park - noise concern options
  - COVID-19 Update 
  - Wellness Centre - dedicated outdoor space
  - Lease extension - Saskatoon land office
  - Downtown Event and Entertainment District - site options update
 

Public Hearing Meeting |  6:00 PM
  - Discretionary Use - addition to private school 2228 Herman Ave
  - Amendment to zoning agreement - 510 25th St East
  - Proclamations & Flag Raisings

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