Agenda includes ban, bins, budget, blocking

Don’t feel like reading the 1,279-page council agenda? Here are some of the top decisions expected to come out of Monday’s city council meeting.

Whether to ban smoking in front of the Shaw Centre

Under existing bylaws, people cannot smoke within nine metres of the main entrances of civic buildings. City administration wants to push smokers even farther back from the Shaw Centre. where patrons have complained about students from Tommy Douglas Collegiate and Bethlehem High School smoking in front of the building. If approved, smokers will have to move to the sidewalk in front of the centre to light up.

Whether to replace the MetroBins with something else

City administration recommends that the MetroBin recycling program be scrapped and that businesses be invited to submit proposals for implementing a new recycling program for downtown, Broadway and Riversdale-area sidewalks. The city has previously described its existing 43 MetroBins as “awkward” and lacking visual appeal. Council will also have to decide whether recycling receptacles can be set up in parks as part of a pilot project this summer. This is presently prohibited because of municipal bylaws that ban advertising in parks.

Whether to develop a plan to ban paper and cardboard at the landfill

Councillors on the environment committee unanimously voted this month to look into banning paper and cardboard at the landfill. Of the 30 largest cities in Canada, 24 do this already. The ban, if approved, would target commercial vehicles, not residents.

Whether to increase the Remai Modern Art Gallery budget

The Remai Modern Art Gallery needs another $2 million to finish on time. Ellen Remai, the gallery’s chief donor, has offered to give the project an additional $1 million and to move another $1 million in previously promised pledges forward sooner so it can complete its shell gallery and ground floor security wall on time. Even though no additional taxpayer money is needed, the move to increase the gallery’s budget requires the city to update a contract between it, the foundation Remai set up and the gallery. If the increase is approved, the total cost of the gallery and parkade would be $103.3 million.

Whether to introduce measures to stop commuter traffic from using Ninth Street or 14th Street to get downtown

The City of Saskatoon aims to slow down and reduce traffic in Nutana by banning westbound traffic on 9th Street from accessing Idylwyld Drive and blocking 14th Street between Lansdowne Avenue and Temperance Street in front of the d’Lish café. If the traffic calming measures are approved, vehicles would be blocked by rubber curbs at first, with more permanent measures being introduced later if the road closures are deemed effective. Also on the list of improvements is putting stop and yield signs in the neighbourhood, improving pedestrian crossings, installing a speed display board and introducing more parking restrictions.

Whether to partner with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society to build a solar power facility at the landfill

Solar Cooperative Ltd., a new initiative of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, wants to team up with the city to generate electricity at the landfill. If such a partnership is approved, the city and cooperative would each own a percentage of the solar power system and electricity would be used to operate the landfill facility, lowering operating costs for the city. The city has said it will cap its contribution to the system at $150,000 — a cost the city would get back in 16 years because of reduced costs of operating the landfill.

Whether to grant the naming rights of the River Landing Riverfront stage to Wright Construction

Wright Construction is offering to buy the naming rights for the Riverfront stage south of the pumphouse for $100,000 for a 10-year term. Saskatoon-based Wright Construction has built a number of Saskatoon landmarks including the Remai Arts Centre which houses the Persephone Theatre and the Delta Bessborough Hotel.