Homeless shelters, the Saskatoon Freeway Project, and a new high school land levy were all topics of discussion at today’s Saskatoon City Council Meeting.

The day started off with the installation of the Treaty 6 and Metis flags at the front of the council chamber. The decision to install the flags was made in 2020 following recommendations coming from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

High School Land Levy

To follow the ceremony, Saskatoon City Council voted unanimously in favour of applying a new “high school land levy” on all new homes purchased starting in January 2025.

Currently, the City doesn’t have enough reserve land or money to build new high schools, and wanting to avoid dipping into parks and greenspaces, a different solution was needed.

Nicole Burgess, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Home Builders’ Association says this $175.80 per front metre levy would add about $2000 to the cost of a new home…an unwelcome hit to the wallet during an affordability crisis.

Councilor Randy Donhauer says Burgess is right, but with the increasing population of Saskatoon, more high schools are needed.

“I’m going to support these, even though I don’t want to. I think we’re in a time crunch, and I don’t want to delay these schools.”

He suggests that city administration negotiate with the province to find a better solution that does not impact the bank accounts of citizens.

Freeway

To follow, talks of the proposed Saskatoon Freeway Functional Planning Study got underway.

Despite over 40 people providing comments in an attempt to discourage the decision, Saskatoon City Council has voted in favour of endorsing Phase 2 of the study.

The freeway is expected to be a minimum four-lane, 55-kilometre stretch of divided highway that begins at Highway 11 south of Saskatoon and connects with Highway 7 west of the city.

Five council members were not on board with the decision, as the creation of the freeway would destroy a large part of the Northwest and Small swales that lie near the city. Mayor Charlie Clark admits that natural areas are important, but the project can’t work any other way.

“The swale is in the middle of our path of growth of the city, and the only way not to have some sort of a transportation corridor through the swale is to have it go all the way past Warman. I just cannot see the feasibility of that.”

Phase 2 of the study will see the Transportation and Planning and Development departments
consider future planning and design work required for city planning to align with the
Saskatoon Freeway project.

Homeless Shelters

Administration is also tasked with the job of continuing to look for locations to implement two 30-bed homeless shelters. As the search continues, City Manager Jeff Jorgenson says citizen opinions will not be considered when selecting the sites.

“There will be touch points with the community and touch points with council, but..we are not going to pick a site and then go ask the community if they support the site. It will be more, ‘Here’s the site. Here’s all of the controls that are in place.’”

He adds that public information sessions will be held, as well.

City Council also discussed potentially allowing administration to establish one 60-bed facility if the task of finding two locations becomes too lengthy and difficult.

Staffed Riverbank Washrooms

And finally, Saskatoon City Council has agreed to fund both a staffed washroom and extra public access to drinking water in an effort to improve the quality of life for the city’s homeless population.

To provide a private washroom facility for those in the Riversdale, Pleasant Hill and other riverbank locations that is operational 24/7, council has agreed to purchase a used washroom trailer.

Mayor Charlie Clark says it’s a short-term solution, but it will mean a lot to those who need it.

“We’ve got to make sure that people can live with dignity and basic public health in our community, so this is an important step.”

Council also agreed to fund three additional water bottle filling stations across the city. Both initiatives rack up a cost of $700,000, which will come out of the Reserve for Capital Expenditures.