Regina council pushes for safety after spike in pedestrian, cyclist collisions

A recent rash of collisions involving vehicles and pedestrians, cyclists and e-bike riders has prompted Regina City Council to call for immediate action for better safety.

In a 7-4 vote, council passed a motion co-signed by councillors Shanon Zachidniak and Victoria Flores requesting an action plan to improve safety, and for any immediate changes to come forward as soon as possible.

Read more:

• Pedestrian struck on Ring Road amid rash of Regina crashes
• Regina police ticket 69 drivers amid spike in pedestrian crashes
• Moe defends lack of town halls on Regina AI data centre

The motion identified at least 14 collisions between Sept. 18 and Oct. 8, with at least two people killed. Zachidniak said she’s aware of at least 16 incidents involving e-bikes, pedestrians or cyclists.

“I can’t remember, in my six years on council, ever seeing anything close to those numbers in the past,” Zachidniak said. “I think it is our responsibility as city council to demonstrate that we recognize these significant, growing safety concerns and that we are going to act on it.”

Regina police inspector Jason Gunderson told council the numbers typically peak during August, September and October, but he noted that 10 incidents in 10 days is an outlier.

The motion called for the action plan to be developed by the Vision Zero and Complete Streets team, along with partners, to bring forward a pedestrian and cyclist protection strategy action plan by the third quarter of 2027.

Zachidniak said her intent was for the cost to be absorbed within the present budget.

Mayor Chad Bachynski told reporters there’s no one cause behind the recent rash of incidents.

“There’s not something specific to point to from this stretch that we’ve had – this unfortunate stretch that we’ve had,” he said, “but I think that’s where Vision Zero, supplemented by this motion today, will help to try and focus in on what are those initiatives that we can do to try and keep pedestrians safe within that overall framework.”

Proposed change to community plan wouldn’t give city a say on data centre

A motion from Coun. Sarah Turnbull to reverse a change to the city’s Official Community Plan was defeated by an 8-3 vote.

Turnbull crafted the motion after learning city administration had waived a concept plan or secondary plan for the land occupied by the Bell AI data centre project in the R.M. of Sherwood. Her motion, if passed, would have required council approval for such a waiver.

“I think it’s very dangerous territory for us to waive away those without any accountability and transparency to our community,” Turnbull said.

Council was told that the concept plan was waived because it typically only applies to plans to create full neighbourhoods, and that it would have served little purpose for a project involving a single user on a single site.

“The purpose of it is to co-ordinate land uses, co-ordinate land users, co-ordinate different aspects of a development area, making sure that there’s a puzzle picture on the puzzle box,” Autumn Dawson, the city’s director of planning and development services, told council.

“In this case, there’s no puzzle to put together.”

Deputy city manager Deborah Bryden added that the change would have no impact on the data centre project, which is under the rural municipality’s jurisdiction.

“Waiving a concept plan in that collaborative planning area is not about skipping process,” Bachynski said. “It’s actually about using the right tool in the right platform or the right time, and that’s the clarity that I received. So from that, I didn’t see a need to make that amendment, because it was actually not a tool that we were enabling council to do anything with, because it actually wouldn’t provide any further information or clarity for council.”

In a separate agenda item, a report containing requested information on the data centre and the city’s role in it was brought forward by Regina’s administration.

It explained that both the original project and a portion of the proposed expansion are in the Joint Planning Area and the Collaborative Planning Area. That led the R.M. to refer the project to the city for comments and feedback, a responsibility the city delegated to its development officer. However, it did not give the city any jurisdiction over development on land within the R.M.

The city’s only other involvement with the project is to provide domestic water service, and the report said an agreement is still being negotiated. If such an agreement is reached, Bell would be charged a 75 per cent utility surcharge rate, which is normal for a development outside city limits. The city also expects a one-time development charge of $6 million.

The city also said no to providing wastewater services because Regina does not have enough capacity for future city growth.