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Following a marathon 18 hours and two days of public hearings, Saskatoon city council has voted in favour of implementing a series of housing, parking, and transit related bylaw changes, in order to satisfy requirements set out in the Federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).
The HAF is a $4 billion Canada-wide program designed to densify cities near transit routes, and create 100,000 new homes over the next three years. Saskatoon’s goal is to create 940 affordable homes in that time period.
Saskatoon’s share of the money amounts to $41.325 million. However, in order to get that money, a series of bylaw amendments had to be made.
The special public hearing began on Thursday, as councillors heard an overview of the program from both Jeff Jorgenson, Saskatoon city manager, and Leslie Anderson, director of planning and development, called the changes “generational’ in nature.
“We recognized that the package of amendments are a large change, and this is a generational type of shift in our approach to residential type development,” she said at the outset of the meetings.
Jorgenson acknowledged that while Saskatoon had been going in the general direction of creating more population dense neighbourhoods, the changes required by the federal government in order to receive the funding came much faster than anticipated, and there was no room for further negotiation.
“We didn’t expect to be here six months ago or a year ago. We definitely did not expect to be here in front of you with this difficult situation that we understand and acknowledge that council is faced with… we didn’t expect our community to be in this position either,” he said.
Anderson said during the condensed period of time during which the city held open houses, a variety of concerns and themes were raised, including concerns about preserving neighbourhood character, property values, privacy, displacement of current residents, and question about what increasing density means.
The approved changes mean that four dwellings like four-plexes will be allowed in all residential areas in the city on lots 50 feet or larger.
Multiple dwelling units, including apartment buildings will be permitted in specified main transit development areas, within 800 metres.
Zoning regulations will be streamlined for residential care homes of up to 15 people, and minimum parking requirements will also be removed.
Councillors including Hilary Gough, David Kirton, Sarina Gersher, Cynthia Block, and Mayor Charlie Clark voted in favour of the initial set of bylaw amendments that set the stage for additional changes, while Couns. Randy Donauer, Darren Hill, Bev Dubois, and Zack Jeffries voted against them.
Coun. Troy Davies was absent from the voting because of other commitments.
“We needed to be speeding this up already,” said Coun. Gough. “The pace we were producing these plans on has not been producing the results we need in order to shift the overall trend in development and growth in our city.”
But Coun. Donauer accused the federal government of forcing the changes.
“If the federal government has money for homelessness and affordable housing, they should distribute it. Period. Full stop. It’s regrettable that the federal government is holding us hostage or bullying municipalities,” he countered.
In total, 66 residents, groups and organizations made presentations, while 391 people submitted written feedback to the city.
So far, the Saskatoon has received about $10 million of the $41 million available. According to the city, the remaining money will be sent out in installments over the next three years.
The city is now calling for proposals for affordable rental unit construction. The deadline is July 5, 2024.
