Blazing the trail for others

Just like the pioneers, those who decide to set down their stakes in a new area have to be prepared and willing to do without a few luxuries.

They may have newly built homes, but the trade off is the wait for some city services.

Snow clearing can happen after one resident moves in an area, but street lights and garbage collection can take up to two years to be put in place.

There are currently 11 new developments around the city, all at different stages of construction.

“Harbour Landing, as an example, kicked off in 2007, I believe,” said Geoff Brown, manager of infrastructure planning for the city.

“But there are subdivisions within those areas, when they start off a new subdivision within an area, they have two years to get that underway.”

He said most subdivisions are given up to two years to complete, but most developers have them done within a year.

Neil Vandendort, acting deputy of city operations, said residents do have some services but they are limited.

“First of all with winter snow clearing, basically when there’s one inhabited house in an area or on a street, (the city) will start providing the normal service we provide for winter snow clearing that is to provide access for emergency vehicles,” he said. “It just takes one house. The road doesn’t even have to be paved.”

He said there are some regulations when it comes to solid waste collection or garbage pick up.

“They are looking for the street to be paved, so they don’t get stuck,” said Vandendort. “Usually, what they look at is when the majority of the houses on a street are occupied. So, it doesn’t mean every house has to be built, but if there are a number of houses under construction and the majority of them are occupied, then they will start providing service into that street.”

He said some people may move into an area and there may be no garbage collection service yet, but often in those cases the developer or contractor has some disposal bins that they are using that residents can use.

“In terms of garbage service and someone moves in and they are wondering, they can call in to the city and someone will always go out there and take a look at the street and the amount of development and work with them from there,” said Vandendort. “Sometimes with garbage service they will start by sending in one of the old fashioned trucks where they throw the bags onto the back of the truck.”

He said rollout carts will be provided to residents only after streets are paved.

Vandendort said transit service comes later.

“They are looking at the density of an area,” he said. “They are looking for 400 residents in a 400 metre radius to consider the implementation of service. It doesn’t guarantee service.”

If the city does decide to provide transit service, the bus routes will have to be reconfigured to accommodate the area, said Vandendort.

SaskPower is responsible for the installation of street lights.

Tyler Hopkins, SaskPower spokesman, said installation comes only after all sidewalks are paved and landscaping in an area is complete.