Council approves outdoor space for downtown wellness centre

Saskatoon City Council has approved a temporary outdoor space in front of the Wellness Centre on First Avenue N.

Businesses near the 75-bed homeless shelter have complained about people loitering outside the building, creating trash and potentially driving pedestrians away from the area.

The outdoor space will be similar to parking patios some restaurants have put up.

The space will be installed against the building with a temporary sidewalk built around it.

Fire Chief Morgan Hackl  told council Vancouver have put in similar open spaces at shelters.

Hackl said two things stood out for him from conversations with officials in Vancouver.

"When there is no infrastructure in place (people] create their own infrastructure," Hackl said.

And he said it is also critical to have the provider, which is Saskatoon Tribal Council, involved with the space.

Ward 6 Coun. Cynthia Block, whose ward encompasses the downtown, said she supported the motion but also understood downtown citizens and businesses are concerned with the homeless crisis.

Ward 2 Coun. Hilary Gough supported the outdoor space for relatives of the wellness Centre that helps the homeless.

And if some people are uncomfortable, maybe they should be uncomfortable with the high number of homeless people, Gough said.

Masks no longer be mandatory on buses 

Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton put forth to end the mandate at Monday's city council meeting that passed by a 7-3 margin.

Riders will still be encouraged to wear masks and masks will still be given to those wanting them.

Saskatoon was one of the last cities that still required masks on public transit. Most other major cities in Canada had already dropped the requirement.

Ward 7 Coun. Mairin Loewen voted against lifting the mandate saying for many the bus is their only form of transportation and this could make them feel unsafe riding on the bus.

Small dog off leash parks

Two small dog off leash parks should be open by the end of the year.

The off leash parks for little pooches only will be in Hyde Park in the Rosewood neighbourhood and within Charlottetown Park behind the Cosmo Civic Centre.

Council gave the go ahead for park's final designs and for administration to put out tenders to build the parks.

Rotary park parking lot closed at night

After complaints about late night noise in Rotary Park, the parking lot will have a gate installed this week that will close at 11 p.m. each night and reopen at 5:30 a.m. the next day.

The gate will be completed by the end of the week.

Washrooms at the park will stay open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Rain report

Council received a report reviewing the city's response to last Monday's storm.

It showed some transit routes had to be rerouted and garbage collection delayed in southern sections of the city.

But a new dry storm pond at WW Ashley Park worked well.

Angela Gardiner, the city's general manager of Utilities and Environment, said a number of nearby streets that have flooded in past rain storms did not flood this time.

Some areas on the south part of the city received over 60 millimetres in just a couple of hours.

Downtown arena 

A report to update council on potential downtown sites for a new area has been put off until next council meeting.

Administration said one of the private land owners of a potential site needed more time to work through details required for approval of any sale.