New suburb gets name change
People don’t seem to want to live in a neighbourhood called Morningside.
After public backlash, city officials are looking to rename Saskatoon’s newest suburban neighbourhood.
“We heard some negative feedback about Morningside,” said Coun. Ann Iwanchuk, who sits on the city’s naming advisory committee.
“It just didn’t seem to connect with people.”
The first suburban neighbourhood of the Holmwood sector — a 7,700-acre area that stretches away from the east end of Eighth Street — could now be named Brighton.
Morningside was the name of a popular CBC radio morning show hosted by the late Peter Gzowski; another city councillor said that had nothing to do with the name change.
“The calls I got, people just didn’t like the sound of it. It just didn’t resonate,” Coun. Troy Davies said.
Morningside was never officially approved by city council; the name Brighton is up for debate next week.
Name controversies aside, the city is ready to release concept plans for the new neighbourhood Thursday, and planners are already promising a neighbourhood drastically different from other Saskatoon suburbs.
“The word ‘new’ is a good word to describe Brighton,” said Alan Wallace, the city’s director of planning and development.
The new neighbourhood is east of College Park East and west of McOrmond Drive. Construction is expected to begin sometime this year.
The city is attempting to design a “complete community” in Holmwood, with a large business area east of McOrmond Drive to offer employment options closer to where people live.
“I think you could probably spend your entire life in this neighbourhood. You have employment, you have shopping,” Wallace said.
While it will include pieshaped lots and some deadend streets, most of the roads are laid out in a traditional grid structure, moving away from the twisting cul-de-sacs that have come to dominate Saskatoon’s suburbs.
The area will also have the city’s first “complete streets,” with priority transit lanes, dedicated cycling lanes and better pedestrian facilities. Eighth Street and College Drive are envisioned as rapid-transit corridors.
“It’s designed around transit at a very, very early stage. In the past we are given a plan and transit looks for good routes. This was designed with transit in mind,” Wallace said.
Once completed, Brighton is expected to house 15,000 people. City crews are already busy trenching in water and sewer lines in the area. If all goes according to plan, lots could be sold before the end of 2014.