Council votes down Taylor Field parking lot, approves downtown washroom

Crusher dust is all that will remain at the former site of Taylor Field for the foreseeable future.

Ward 10 Coun. Jerry Flegel’s motion to turn it into an interim parking lot was defeated 6-5 at Monday night’s city council meeting.

Flegel, Coun. Lori Bresciani, Coun. John Findura, Coun. Bob Hawkins and Mayor Michael Fougere raised their hands in favour. However, they were outnumbered by Coun. Barbara Young, Coun. Sharron Bryce, Coun. Mike O’Donnell, Coun. Jason Mancinelli, Coun. Joel Murray and Coun. Andrew Stevens, who all voted against it.

In the long term, the city plans to use that land to build housing, as promised in the third phase of the Regina Revitalization Initiative. However, with city administration noting there is still no definite timeline on that, Flegel saw an opportunity to put up a parking lot in the meantime.

On top of potentially bringing in revenue, Flegel envisioned it would alleviate the parking pressures on nearby neighbourhoods during big events at Mosaic Stadium and Evraz Place.

“I want housing in there at some point, but — until that happens — we might as well use the land for something,” Flegel said.

Fougere recognizes there is a need for more housing in Regina, but noted it’s now in the hands of the private sector.

“(The city) owns that land and we’ll develop that land with the help of the private sector, but we don’t build neighbourhoods,” Fougere said. “Until we see a demand from the private sector that says we need more housing (due to) greater population growth, it’ll stay vacant.”

Speaking on the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Tuesday, Fougere said the city already provides a “robust bus service” to and from Evraz Place for Saskatchewan Roughriders games and other events.

“We didn’t want to take away that investment of millions of dollars to do that,” Fougere said. “If we’re doing anything at all, maybe look at a temporary recreation facility there. It could be a soccer pitch, baseball diamond, something like that as temporary use.”

During the show, Fougere was asked if he could picture the old Taylor Field site used for something besides housing.

“That could happen and we’ve changed our plans before. But again, our view is, until we formally change it at council, it will be residential. That is the plan,” he said.

“But if we do have someone come forward and say, ‘I’ve got a better idea,’ we talk about it. We will of course look at that too.”

According to city manager Chris Holden, the parking lot project would cost a minimum of $1 million. But before anything is built, Holden said a feasibility study would need to be contracted out for a cost of roughly $25,000. Normally, he said city staff would conduct the study, but they’re busy working on the Railyard Renewal Project.

However, it’s not only the price tag that prevented some councillors from voting in favour of the temporary build.

Before taking a stance, O’Donnell said he’d rather see the site used for recreation.

“Whether it’s a skating rink or a ball field or a soccer pitch … whatever it would cost to lay down that, I’m in. But if it’s parking, I’m afraid that — at this point in time — that is not something I’d support,” O’Donnell told his fellow councillors.

When it comes to what’s next for the site, Flegel hopes the conversation continues.

“I do believe that we need to figure out something to do with this land because the way the economics are going today with the development, it’s going a little bit slow,” Flegel said.

Cycling safety motion pushed back for more research

Murray raised concerns over cycling safety in Regina at Monday night’s council meeting.

After hearing from local cyclists — and experiencing his own close calls with drivers while riding his bike over the years — Murray put forward a motion.

The amended version proposes a vehicle passing a cyclist at a speed of more than 50 kilometres per hour must keep a distance of 1.5 metres from the cyclist, and when passing a cyclist under 50 km/h, a distance of one metre must be kept. It also recommends creating an educational component for the public.

Murray also suggested that, by next year, a fine structure be created and enforced on drivers who don’t abide by the proposed bylaw.

Brandon Wright, a Bike Regina board member, spoke before council to share his thoughts on the motion.

“We have heard from our membership and the message is clear: Motorists’ behaviour makes cyclists feel unsafe using the streets. For some, this is no more than an annoyance; for others, it keeps them off the streets, and as a result, off their bikes,” Wright told councillors.

“People who feel unsafe biking in the street simply revert back to driving, which, as we know, increases the number of cars on the streets, and it does nothing for Regina’s active transportation numbers.”

While the intention of the motion was focused on how drivers should safely pass cyclists, the discussion between councillors shifted to whether there needs to be a bylaw in place for cyclists to wear helmets while on the road. But Wright argued that’s not helpful to the conversation.

“There are studies shown that there are motorists who get closer to cyclists who are wearing helmets because they think, ‘Oh, that cyclist is safe. If I hit him, he’s fine; his head’s protected.’ That’s not the case,” Wright explained. “We want to look at bylaws or changes to the laws that prevent incidents, rather than trying to protect the cyclist in the event of an incident.”

With a number of factors to weigh and details to comb through, Bresciani requested city administration bring back a report by the first quarter of next year. The research would include information on the impact of protective gear, like helmets and what a fine structure would look like.

“When it all comes back, then we can justify what other cities have done and what they’ve considered. Rather than having this just not go through tonight, and maybe it not passing, it’s better to go back, have all the information and make a more informed decision,” Bresciani explained.

Council approves downtown washroom pilot project

Council approved a pilot project Monday night that’ll see a trailer of washrooms parked in City Square Plaza for five months starting next spring.

The restrooms are set to be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and are to be maintained by the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District.

According to city administration, the goal is to see what kind of demand is out there for a downtown public washroom and what groups of people might be using them. From there, the city is able to build permanent infrastructure tailored to whoever is using them most often.

Single-use plastics debate rescheduled for next year

A debate was set to be had Monday night over Hawkins’ motion to ban single-use plastic bags.

However, Hawkins asked for it to be deferred so it can be added to next year’s report on banning single-use plastics as a whole.

Fougere said the additional time offers more consultation with residents, who were already asked to fill out an online survey that ended Friday.

“We think we’re on the right track. We had several thousand people responding to the online survey, and we’ll make a decision (on whether to ban single-use plastics) sometime next year,” Fougere said.