A new planning document seeks to align plans for a new downtown arena with a broader vision for the city centre.
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A 10-year plan meant to guide the development of Saskatoon’s downtown got high praise en route to a unanimous endorsement from members of city council’s governance and priorities committee.
Mayor Charlie Clark said discussion of what’s been labelled the “city centre and district plan” put him in mind of the founders of Saskatoon, pondering what they might have thought as they laid out the original downtown.
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“And here we are in 2024, building on everything that’s been done, and laying out a vision for the next 100 years of what the downtown looks like,” he added.
The plan seeks to replace a previous long-term downtown strategy document developed in 2013, while aligning the ongoing work on the downtown event and entertainment district (DEED) project with a wider vision for the area.
Ian Williamson, senior project planner for the City of Saskatoon, presented the plan at Wednesday’s committee meeting.
If approved later this month, the city centre and district plan won’t be binding on future councils. instead, it’s meant to serve as a guide to the downtown-related proposals city staff bring forward for council approval over the next decade.
Much of the public discussion on downtown has centred on the proposed $1.2 billion DEED, which would include a new arena and a major facelift for the current TCU Place convention centre.
However, the DEED is just one portion of the plan. Williamson said the document treats the city centre as a connected series of five districts: the DEED, the warehouse district, River Landing, the historic downtown and the area around Spadina Crescent.
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The plan includes various long-term proposals to improve all areas of the city centre, with a goal of attracting more residential and commercial development around public amenities.
During questions from committee members, Williamson asserted that the “boldest, most effective move for downtown is people — more people,” as he emphasized the need for a larger population living in the core to help drive demand for amenities like a grocery store.
Asked how the city could maintain the downtown as a prime location for office space when zoning has allowed so much office development outside the core, Williamson said the city has tended in the past to look at incentive programs.
He said a future report expected next year will outline potential policy options beyond incentives to help get more offices to locate downtown.
The city centre and district plan contains several mentions of actions focused on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. The committee heard city staff have engaged with Indigenous elders and knowledge-keepers on incorporating Indigenous culture into downtown gathering spaces.
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This engagement is to include further discussion on how to properly acknowledge that the proposed downtown arena site was at one point in its history a rail yard used in the colonial-era trade of bison bones, a practice that had a devastating impact on Indigenous communities.
After Wednesday’s unanimous committee vote, the city centre and district plan will go to council for final approval later this month. The city is planning a public consultation session later this month prior to the council vote.
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