News Releases

The condominium fire in the 300 block of 108th Street West has been fully extinguished with no serious injuries resulting.

The fire was reported to Saskatoon Fire just before 11:30 p.m. on Friday, May 27, 2022. Crews were on scene in 2.5 minutes from the time this call was received via Dispatch. It took crews 7 hours to get the blaze under control, and another 7.5 hours to fully extinguish the site.

“This was a large-scale fire and a difficult one to get under control,” says Fire Chief Morgan Hackl. “The fire spread very quickly, and it required close to 80 staff rotating through the scene before it all over.”

The cause of the fire was the improper disposal of smoking material in an exterior receptable at the northeast corner of the property. The condo unit contained 24 units and damages are estimated at $5 million.

Hackl says: “I’m extremely proud of our Department’s response. Firefighters performed amazing rescue efforts during the course of this incident which presented extreme challenges. The assistance of emergency services – including Police and Ambulance – ensure a coordinated approach to mitigate incidents such as these. And, when rehousing is required, the Salvation Army and Ministry of Social Services also play an important role.”

While Hackl acknowledges the early 911 call as a key factor, he did express serious concern that the fire alarm in the condo building had not been activated.

“I want to remind the public today that, while calling 911 is a critical step, it’s equally important to pull those internal fire alarms at the first detection of smoke or fire. Without these alarms sounding, there will be people inside the building that still aren’t aware they need to get out immediately.”

The Fire Department wishes to share these important safety reminders on the heels of this incident:

• Always ensure you’re properly disposing of smoking materials
• At first fire/smoke detection, activate the fire alarm and yell “fire”
• Call 911
• Use the nearest exit
• Test the smoke alarm monthly and replace batteries annually
• Stay well clear of an active fire scene to allow fire crews to safely do their job

More information on fire safety is available at saskatoon.ca/fire. More information on the proper disposal of smoking materials is available here.

ATTACHED: rescue clip video file
(SOURCE: Facebook video - used with permission)

Major improvements are in store for some of Saskatoon’s most travelled roadways during the 2022 construction season. This year, the City has earmarked approximately $65.16 million for road and bridge construction and maintenance. One of the most significant construction zones will be set up in a few weeks on Circle Drive North between Alberta Avenue and Millar Avenue.

“More than 56,000 vehicles of all sizes travel over this section of Circle Drive every day and it certainly shows,” says Terry Schmidt, General Manager of Transportation and Construction.  “The east bound lanes will be resurfaced and there will be concrete improvements on the medians and curbs. We will return next year to resurface the west bound lanes to avoid major traffic disruptions on both sides at the same time.”

Attridge Drive over Circle Drive will be another high traffic road under construction. Beginning in July, the 22-year-old overpass that approximately 64,000 vehicles travel on daily, will undergo preventative maintenance, like repaving, to make sure it lasts for years to come. The Spadina Crescent Bridge, between Queen Street and 25^th Street, is proof that preventative maintenance over the years contributes to the longevity of City assets. The 90-year-old bridge, that about 16,000 vehicles travel over every day, will be fully closed for approximately one month beginning next week as the bridge deck, asphalt, concrete, and security fencing underneath are rehabilitated or replaced.

“Other high-profile road construction locations include resurfacing on Warman Road over Circle Drive, and intersection improvements at Warman Road and 33^rd Street. Plans include adding a new turning lane to better accommodate south bound traffic on Warman Road turning right onto 33^rd Street,” says Schmidt.

Road and sidewalk improvements will be noticeable in some of Saskatoon’s most established residential neighbourhoods too, like King George, Nutana, and North Downtown. Those improvements are completed at the same time as water main and lead service line connection replacements. The City’s goal is to have all lead service line connections replaced by 2027.

Annual street maintenance such as pothole and utility cut repairs, line painting and street sweeping are also underway.

“There will be traffic delays and detours throughout Saskatoon all summer as we work to improve and clean up hundreds of kilometers of roads within a relatively short period of time. We thank residents for their patience and encourage drivers to please slow down and respect work zones.”

For more information on current and future construction, please visit saskatoon.ca/construction.

The City of Saskatoon has a responsibility to conserve water and, along with the community, has identified it as an important measure to reduce greenhouse gases, care for the environment, and lower water utility bills.

The Water Conservation Strategy, which has been in the works for two years and informed by public engagement, encourages conservation through a variety of methods. The report will go before the City’s Environment, Utilities, and Corporate Services Committee on Monday.

“The Strategy is a roadmap of actions to help residents and City operations achieve many benefits from water conservation, like managing water costs, improving resiliency, and limiting environmental impacts”, says Jeanna South, Director of Sustainability. “Some of these actions include reducing peak summer use to ease demand on infrastructure, reducing water used in the City’s own operations to save costs, and showing residents and businesses ways that they can change their water use to reduce their utility bills.”

Water reduction targets were established in the Low Emissions Community Plan to reduce future water infrastructure expansion costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Although per capita water use in Saskatoon has been on a downward trend as residents have realized the benefits of conservation, recent data shows more efforts in all parts of the community and in the City’s own operations are necessary. 

“The intent of this strategy is to prioritize the initiatives, develop programs based on priorities, implement those initiatives as funding becomes available, and monitor progress and refine assumptions to keep the Water Conservation Strategy current,” says South.

Some water conservation initiatives underway include improving City water use in parks and other areas of operations, residential water use education, and the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) building energy and efficiency retrofit program.

For more information, please visit saskatoon.ca/waterconservation.

A Vancouver-based developer has approached the City with a proposal to open a full-service grocery store, with a restaurant, and take-out at the Midtown Plaza. The Standing Policy Committee on Transportation will consider the request from Arbutus Properties when the committee meets on Monday, May 2, 2022.

The grocery store is proposed for the space in Midtown Plaza that was initially developed for another business but has remained vacant.

The Administration report recommends installing a full traffic signal at the intersection of Auditorium Avenue and Idylwyld Drive, removing the median on Idylwyld Drive between Auditorium Avenue and 22nd Street, and installing a traffic island at the intersection of 21st Street and Idylwyld Drive. These changes were all previously identified in the Imagine Idylwyld project plan.

The report recommends that the City completes these changes once the grocery store reaches a certain build-out point. The cost of the infrastructure changes is $220 thousand.

A requested tax abatement for the grocery store is not recommended, as the available space at Midtown Plaza has already been approved for a tax abatement.

If approved, the next steps will be in the developer’s hands.

The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo (Zoo) is excited to introduce the newest members of the Zoo family – bobcats Sherlock and Watson! These two brothers were born in 2021 at the Zoo Sauvage de Saint Felicien and are just under one year old.

“We are very fortunate to have Sherlock and Watson join the Zoo family,” says Jeff Mitchell, Zoo Manager. “The pair arrived safely at the Zoo this morning and will be introduced to their new temporary home in the vacant eagle exhibit before transferring to their permanent home later this summer.”

Bobcats get their name from their short, bobbed tail and are found mostly in North America in mountainous forest regions. They weigh anywhere from 6.5 to 18 kilograms and can jump over 3 metres high. Their diet consists mainly of rodents, birds and fish and are known as ambush predators that stalk and hunt their prey with an element of surprise.  

Preparations for the bobcats’ arrival started this spring with renovations to the previous lynx exhibit. The former lynx exhibit is being transformed into a new space for the bobcats that will feature a new house and dedicated play area for the bobcats to enjoy. For now, Sherlock and Watson will get to enjoy exploring the caves and terrain in the vacant eagle exhibit until the renovations to their permanent home are completed this summer.

Visitors to the Zoo will notice a perimeter buffer surrounding the temporary bobcat exhibit. This buffer helps to maintain physical distance between the public and the bobcats as cat species such as bobcats and lynx are susceptible to COVID-19. 

“Taking precautionary measures like maintaining a safe physical distance is an important part of keeping our animals safe,” says Jeff Mitchell. “The level of risk among species varies, and we take every necessary step to ensure the health and safety of the animals in our care.”

The Zoo is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Visit saskatoon.ca/zoo to plan your next visit or learn more about the Zoo Season Pass.

Over the next week, the City of Saskatoon will be mailing out Amended Assessment Notices to commercial property owners where an update to the assessed value of their property is required for a full year.

“We’ve had several longstanding commercial assessment appeal decisions ruled on by the Court of Appeal and these also affected the Board of Revision in 2021,” says Bryce Trew, City Assessor. “This has led to implications for retail, warehouse and office buildings greater than 5800 square feet.”

Property owners who receive an Amended Assessment Notice will have a 30-Day Assessment Review and Appeal period from the date an Amended or Supplementary Notice is mailed to them in which to file a formal appeal on their property's assessment. 

“It's important to note that not all commercial property assessments changed as a result of the recently finalized appeal decisions,” adds Trew. “If an assessment changed in 2022, it could be because of physical alterations to the property such as new builds, additions, renovations, or demolitions, changes in tax status or ownership, and/or a Board of Revision decision.”

Currently, there are Board of Revision appeals from 2021 that are with the Saskatchewan Municipal Board. Appeals filed in 2022 are with the Board of Revision. If decisions from these appeals require further changes to assessment models, property owners will be issued amended notices.

Following the provincially legislated reassessment year in 2021, property owners who since January 1, 2021, had a change in the assessment, tax status, or ownership of their property would have received a 2022 Assessment Notice earlier this year. The 2022 Assessment Roll was open until February 4, 2022, also the deadline to file a commercial or residential 2022 appeal with the Board of Revision. The Province is on a four-year assessment cycle with current property assessments in place from 2021 to 2024.

Visit saskatoon.ca/assessment for more information or contact 306-975-3227 for assessment-related questions. We’re here to help.

After more than two years, Saskatoon City Council and its Committees will resume in-person meetings in April and will reopen Council Chamber to the public. Meetings have been conducted virtually online since shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With COVID-19 restrictions lifting, it’s exciting to welcome back Council members and members of the public to attend City Council proceedings in Council Chamber or to other public committee meetings,” says Adam Tittemore, City Clerk. “While there are no COVID-related restrictions or a capacity limit in Chambers at present, public visitors may still choose to physically distance themselves and or wear an optional face-covering.”

Meeting participants and the public will have the option to attend upcoming meetings in person or virtually from another location. City Council proceedings will continue to be made available for public viewing via a live stream video link.

To add greater accessibility to City Council’s live-streamed video of public meetings, the City has added a closed captioning service whereby people with impaired hearing can toggle the “cc” icon on or off to make text appear on the screen below the video. Closed captioning may at times convey inaccurate spellings or words interpreted incorrectly due to the technology or speaker. “The City is committed to providing an open municipal government and this includes adding accessibility supports to best serve all members of the community,” adds Tittemore.

Visitor Screening Procedures introduced pre-pandemic will also be in place, including the visual bag inspection, for the public attending Council Chambers for City Council or Committee meetings. This safety measure is the City’s commitment to making Council Chamber as open, accessible and secure as possible for all visitors and City employees.

Helpful Links

Interacting with City Council & Committees

Watch live-streamed video of public City Council meetings

Agendas, minutes, past videos

Email City Clerks

Contact City Clerk’s Office

Visit saskatoon.ca .

For the 14^th consecutive year, the City of Saskatoon has won the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting (CAnFR) from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada.

The CAnFR award, presented for the City’s 2020 Annual Report, represents a significant accomplishment for municipal government and its financial management. The award recognizes the City’s commitment to high standards and excellence in financial transparency and accountability.

“We are committed to financial transparency and openly communicating to the citizens of Saskatoon with full disclosure in our annual reporting,” says Kari Smith, Director of Finance. “We are proud to receive this award and proud of our employees who are dedicated to making the City of Saskatoon a leader in producing high-quality financial reports year after year.”

The City’s 2020 Annual Report has been judged by impartial Canadian Review Committee members to meet the high standards of the program, including demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” designed to clearly communicate the municipality’s financial story and to motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.   

The Canadian Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program (CAnFR) was established to encourage municipal governments across Canada to publish high-quality financial reports and to provide peer recognition and technical guidance for officials preparing these reports.

Visit saskatoon.ca to view additional financial reports from the City of Saskatoon.

The vendor of the City’s current pay parking application (app), WayToPark, will be releasing a new app in June called Parkedin. Beginning July 1, Parkedin will officially replace WayToPark as the City’s app-based parking payment service.  

The Parkedin app will be available for public download and use starting June 1. Both WayToPark and Parkedin will be available in tandem during a transition period from June 1 to June 30, 2022.

The new Parkedin app will operate and function similar to the WayToPark app, with some additional features such as the ability to pay for parking by scanning a QR code on the nearest pay station as well as support for debit payments. 

“Our Parking Services team is looking forward to the implementation of the new app to provide an improved offering for customers and to ensure that there is no service disruption.” says Matt Grazier, Director of Community Standards. 

A report on proposed amendments to the Traffic Bylaw to facilitate usage of the new app will be presented to the Standing Policy Committee on Transportation on Monday, April 11. 
For more information on Pay Parking, visit saskatoon.ca/payparking.