City Growth
The City of Saskatoon seems to live by the adage that “bigger is better”. My view is that “better is better”, regardless of the size that might represent. Too often our City gets lost in endless grand visions while missing decades of simple improvements that hold the chance to greatly improve city life for businesses and citizens alike.
The current plan to 500,000 does concern me on a few fronts. Too often, cities tend to treat those surrounding its borders as if their concerns are nothing but a footnote in the planning process. It’s like a steam roller is approaching; you can complain, but if you stay in the way, you are going to get rolled over.
There is very high quality farm land in areas west and north of the city. My position on development of good farm land has always been that it should never take place unless absolutely necessary. Agriculture is still a very important part of our provincial economy. In my view, urban planning should always exhaust all other options before taking this step.
Our City needs to look more inwards than outwards when possible. The fast way is to push out our boundaries but that has long term consequences. We leap frog beyond schools, firehalls, even recreational areas which causes us all to expel more money to just keep up. If we can grow more inwards in smarter ways, we can keep filling existing schools longer to get the real-life expectancy out of the infrastructure. Think of it like getting an extra 10 good years out of your water heater or furnace. Each time you better capitalize on any municipal assets, including roads and sewer systems, you save millions which can go to other things or it can help to lower taxes.
I am not looking for a sudden, massive change in our housing density. But our current density in the downtown core is actually much lower than what should reasonably exist to help create vitality and safety in the central business district.
Urban agriculture and food security are important to me. I think most people realize how dependent we are on foreign countries to source foods that we can sometimes grow ourselves. Those hardest hit on food costs are the poor and working poor in our society. While there are programs to allow such groups to grow some of their own food, space is often limited or too far away. With such expansive park space that sometimes never see a lot of direct day to day use, I see the potential for more urban gardens run by charities like CHEP, for example, on ancillary city lands which are suitable for this. I would also like to find a way for those living in our highest density areas to have this opportunity.
