Tag Archives: development

University Sector Plan

Have your say in the future of the University Sector Plan

The University of Saskatchewan has nearly 1,000 acres of endowment land located within five kilometers of downtown Saskatoon. These important lands provide critical resources that strategically support the university’s teaching, learning and research mission.

In 2008 a land-use task force was formed, bringing together the University of Saskatchewan, the City of Saskatoon, Meewasin Valley Authority and the Province of Saskatchewan, to create ‘Vision 2057.’‘Vision 2057’, in alignment with the City of Saskatoon’s growth plan and strategic infill initiatives, identifies university endowment lands that are suitable for commercial and residential development opportunities, along with the creation of multi-use community facilities, parks and open spaces, and also preserves abundant space for learning and research activities.

Recognizing the importance of developing these lands in a sustainable way that benefits everyone in Saskatoon, the City and University entered a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a Sector Plan for the area. Developing the Plan involved consultation with community partners and stakeholders, and it provides the framework within which the area will be planned and developed.

The result of this partnership and outreach, the University Sector Plan, is a shared vision of land use and development that will have a positive impact for the city, its residents and the University community.

You can find out more about the University Sector Plan, including a Plan Summary and a short video, by visiting the Engage page at saskatoon.ca/engage/university-sector-plan. You can also email universitysector@saskatoon.ca if you have specific questions or want to find out more about how to participate in the engagement process.

Highrise at College & Clarence

The Varsity View-Grosvenor Community Association, together with our residents, has spent hundreds of hours developing an understanding of what this means for our community and what our position should be..

For those who have not heard the site is South East corner of College and Clarence. The corner is presently zoned for a mixture of 4 and 3 storey residential use with a 6 m. setback from College. The proposal is for a non-conforming 12 storey building with a 2.1 m setback.
The City is only obligated to let residents within 75 m of the new building know about the change in zoning. This is woefully inadequate. The Grosvenor-VVCA board gave up evening and weekend time to distribute the better part of a thousand extra flyers to residents.

The information presented at the meeting was incomplete. The reduced setback was not highlighted, and, in consequence, its implications were not discussed. Other aspects were disingenuous. Residents had concerns regarding traffic flow. In response, the expert stated that the new high rise would result in minimal additional delay for a vehicle crossing the College-Clarence intersection at rush hour. This is correct but has no bearing on travel time, which is the residents’ concern. Think of being in a queue at the supermarket, when the supermarket gets busier your time with the cashier does not change. However, the length of the queue changes, this determines how long it will take you to get out of the store. A final problem is that while many experts were on hand at the meeting, there was insufficient time to answer all concerns and no opportunity to view the experts reports after the meeting.

Based on the vote at the meeting (19 against, 1 in favor and 14 abstentions) and considerable further correspondence with the City planning department the Community Association is against this non-conforming development for these reasons:
• Inadequate consultation (see above)
• Potential adverse affects on parking. The current zoning requirements for visitor parking seem low. Residents around other high rises report increased parking problems because visitors cannot gain access to the spots reserved for them.
• The reduced setback limits future road improvements to College. The road immediately in front of the proposed high-rise is one of the few parts of College that will be reduced to two lanes by the new BRT routes.
• Residents report increased flooding in our neighborhood following storms. The City informs us that this will not be a problem because storm water from the roof, driveways, and paved surfaces will be collected and slowly run into the storm drains. As we are not aware of other developments in Varsity View where water from driveways is collected, we doubt that the developer will agree to this requirement.
• The ability of City water supply, sewer services, parks, and schools to absorb the additional demands of this building and the demands of conforming development that is already approved are unknown. Brunskill School is at capacity. It is unclear how the City/School Board will address the additional needs that densification brings.
• The high rise sits at the gateway to our community. It will have a negative affect on the single-family homes in the vicinity. Some of these have hundreds of thousands, or maybe millions, of investment. They anchor our neighborhood.
• High density housing decreases cohesion and increases crime. This is particularly true for the mix of high-density housing and low income groups (who do you think lives in high rises once they lose their new sheen?). Some developers suggest it is particularly true for residents who live more than 6 floors from the ground – they no longer feel part of the community and so are less inclined to help look after it.
• There is an abrupt transition from this high rise to single detached dwellings which is contrary to Saskatoon’s Official Community Plan.
• Although everyone denies this, approving a non-conforming high rise will set a precedent for our entire neighborhood. Prior to this proposal 2 to 4 storey buildings were planned for College. If a high rise gets approved our entire neighborhood could get similar additions. Another high rise is proposed for Cumberland and 8th. It is impossible to believe assurances about future development if Council does not respect its own zoning policies.

I am going to finish with a quote from the Hemson report, the bible for Saskatoon’s developers. Regarding infill: “where existing infrastructure capacity is insufficient, the cost of new infrastructure can be very high”. Unfortunately, the considerable densification that has already happened in Varsity View occurred in parallel with ever increasing taxes. It is unreasonable that we should pay more for development that detracts from our community.

Okay, maybe not finished. Firstly, your board is not against densification. We are against non-conforming densification. We believe in planning and zoning so that we can predict problems and manage the outcomes.

Finally, it is very important that you let your councillor know where you stand. We will only sway council if we are united on non-conforming development. Write or email Councillor Cynthia Block with your views.

Jon Naylor, VVCA President
president@vvcasaskatoon.com

Meeting: Rezoning at Main & Cumberland

The proposed rezoning at Main and Cumberland by Black Rock Developments is certainly of interest to many individuals in the neighbourhood. Main Street has gone through tremendous changes in the past two years, and in some ways is the shiniest and most modern block in Varsity View. This change is interesting and challenging at the same time.

The Varsity View LAP completed in 2014 (summary report here at the CoS website or full here. ) promotes balanced growth that must yield a net benefit to the the community. This is a high standard but encourages a balance between new interests and old ones. VVCA has also been active to promote sensible infill guidelines to help shape the changes of individual units on streets just like this.

As interested citizens, I would like to invite each of you to join us Monday, October 5th at 7 pm to 8:30 pm in the Brunskill library to discuss these proposed zoning changes, identify what we like and do not like about the proposed development and explore what our viewpoints are and any common ground we share. I would like us as a neighbourhood to further talk through what development looks like as this will undoubtedly be a theme of the coming decades due to our highly desirable location and aging housing stock.

Please share my invite with other interested or civically minded folks. If you are unable to join us that night, I will be happy to share your comments (with your permission) to the attendees.

– James Perkins, VVCA President

Public Information Meeting – Proposed Rezoning

PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING
Proposed Rezoning by Agreement

1414 & 1416 Main Street (corner of Cumberland and Main)
Thursday, September 10, 2015
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Formal presentation at 6:30 PM, followed by Q&A
Brunskill School – Library (101 Wiggins Avenue)

You are invited to review a proposed rezoning of 1414 and 1416 Main Street. The applicant, BlackRock Developments, has applied to rezone the properties through a Rezoning Agreement, in order to develop a multiple-unit dwelling with 26 residential units at this location.

The purpose of the meeting is to provide neighbouring residents and property owners the opportunity to learn details of the proposed rezoning, obtain public input on the matter, and to provide details on the rezoning process.

(Come to the presentation and you can still make it to the Varsity View Movie in the Park afterward!)

For more information, please contact:
Brent McAdam, MCIP, RPP
Planning and Development Division, Community Services Department, City of Saskatoon
222-3rd Avenue North, Saskatoon, S7K 0J5
Email: brent.mcadam@saskatoon.ca PH: (306) 986-0902 Fax: (306) 975-7712