Saskatoon council to decide on compost facility loan, cycling project

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Cyclist and pedestrian safety has become a more prominent issue in Saskatoon in light of the 2023 deaths of two cyclists in separate incidents on city streets. The question of how to create safer cycling routes to the University of Saskatchewan campus will once again be on the agenda as city council gathers Wednesday for its May regular business meeting.

Councillors will also be asked to make the final vote in a public hearing to authorize borrowing $22.1 million to build a city-owned composting facility for organic waste.

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CYCLING

City staff are asking council to give the OK to install a “neighbourhood bikeway” along Munroe Avenue between College Drive and 14th Street, at an estimated cost of $150,000, with work to be completed in 2025.

Unlike protected bike lanes or multi-use pathways, which physically separate cyclists from vehicles,  neighbourhood bikeways are used on streets with lower volumes of vehicle traffic, and involve reducing speed limits for drivers down to 30 km/h in order to improve safety for cyclists; the installation would not result in any loss of vehicle driving lanes or parking.

This is meant to be the first phase of a cycling route to connect several neighbourhoods in the southern portion of the city to the University of Saskatchewan campus. While money is available for the first phase,  Phase 2, connecting from 14th Street to Clarence Avenue at Circle Drive South at an estimated cost of  $1.19 million, would have to wait until sometime in the 2026-27 budget cycle.

City staff last month told council they prefer focusing on the Munroe Avenue cycling route to the university campus during discussion that saw council vote to restrict right turns on red light and install a painted “bike box” at the intersection of College Drive and Wiggins Avenue.

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The report to this month’s council meeting suggests the measures taken at College and Wiggins could be reviewed after the new Munroe Avenue cycling route is completed.

LOAN

The public hearing portion of next week’s meeting will offer a final opportunity to press the case for seeking bids from the private sector before the city borrows $22.1 million to build its own composting facility.

Council last month heard from city staff that a city-owned option is expected to lead to lower bills for residents than any private sector option.

The city currently contracts with Loraas to have organic waste composted at a facility north of the city limits. The contract was signed as a contingency after a previous arrangement with Green Prairie Environmental Ltd. failed.

Green Prairie had won a bidding process to compost the City of Saskatoon’s organic waste, and was meant to have a facility built at its landfill south of the city in time for the launch of the green bin program. That plan stalled when the Rural Municipality of Corman Park council denied Green Prairie’s application to build the facility, after hearing concerns from nearby residents.

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Green Prairie has challenged the RM council’s decision in court; the matter is yet to be resolved.

Last month, council voted 6-5 to pursue a city-owned and operated facility without seeking further bids from the private sector. At that time, city staff said the decision could always be re-visited should further design and planning work show cost overruns.

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