Varsity View man running for council over frustration with city’s infill policy
Community association head upset with approval of townhouses
The president of an east-side community association says he will seek election to city council this fall in response to mounting frustration with the city’s approach to large infill developments in core neighbourhoods.
Varsity View Community Association president Jon Naylor declared his intentions this week, hours after council unanimously approved a proposed four-unit brownstone townhouse at the intersection of Clarence Avenue and Osler Street.
In an interview, the Saskatchewan Polytechnic veterinary technology instructor admitted it is “extremely unlikely” he will defeat Ward 6 Coun. Cynthia Block, who won Mayor Charlie Clark’s old seat with 38 per cent of the vote in 2016. But, Naylor said, instances of council approving rezoning requests for multi-unit developments that don’t conform to the area’s six-year-old plan led him to conclude that infill should be an election issue.
“The community association has presented petitions on various infill projects, and they’ve been absolutely ignored at council,” Naylor said. “(The project) does meet city hall’s requirements, but it is not consistent with the majority of wishes of the residents. It is not consistent with the local area plan.”
Reached on Tuesday, Block confirmed her intention to seek re-election and said she would be surprised if there were no challengers.
At a meeting on Monday, council gave the green light to Axbridge Construction’s request to rezone the Osler Street property to permit the construction of a three-storey, four-unit brownstone first proposed around 18 months ago. Naylor said he did not attend the hearing as he believed a decision was already made, but Jack Lebrecque spoke out against Axbridge’s proposal, saying he and others feel “four-unit buildings have no place in Varsity View.”
City administrators recommended council approve Axbridge’s request, saying in a report that while the local area plan does not specify zoning changes, the proposal is compatible with nearby buildings, streets and land uses in the area.
Shane Shircliff, one of four partners behind Axbridge Construction, said he was “extremely happy” with the decision and praised the city’s push for much more infill development. Axbridge is following all the rules, he said.
“I live in the area and it’s important to me to understand what’s happening. I don’t want to be a bad neighbour,” Shircliff said. “It’s a challenge just because change is difficult, (but) this is the way of the future for a variety of different reasons.”
The City of Saskatoon is embarking on an ambitious plan to increase infill development to 50 per cent of all new construction, in part through building thousands of new residential units along major corridors. The current infill development rate is about 15 per cent of new construction.
Naylor emphasized the local area plan allows for change, just not four-unit dwellings, which he said come with multiple potential concerns, including privacy, loss of trees and road disruption.
Block said cities that grow “upward and inward” are the most prosperous, but historic neighbourhoods must also be respected. That typically means pushing higher-density infill to the outskirts of neighbourhoods, along major corridors. Block said she respects the concerns, but knocked on doors around the site of Axbridge’s proposal and found a “great majority” of people felt it struck the right balance.
“In this particular case, the boxes were ticked,” she said. “In my view, I think this particular proposal does hold that balance between helping to grow our city in the right way but also being respectful of the neighbourhood.”
Block is the second councillor to confirm her intention to seek re-election on Nov. 6. In late January, Coun. Darren Hill confirmed that he will seek a fifth term representing Ward 1.
It’s a challenge just because change is difficult, (but) this is the way of the future for ... different reasons.