Maybe we'll see some condos and townhomes constructed as part of the commercial development...unlikely; the City should make it part of the sale agreement.
IMO, mixed use > big box
Big-box developer adds land
Company buys untendered property for west-side project
Rod Nickel, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The developer planning a west-side big-box mall will buy another 7.9 acres without having to outbid the competition.
City council approved Monday, without discussion, the sale of three small serviced parcels in the Blairmore area at 22nd Street and Highway 7 to Smart Centres.
The B.C. company had earlier won a tender to buy 30 acres nearby.
It made an unsolicited $4.5-million offer to the city in June for the extra land after tentatively securing two anchor stores for its larger site. Those stores take up the entire site without the adjacent land, forcing Smart Centres to turn away smaller retailers who want to open west-side outlets.
The Stonegate mall, which Smart Centres also built, is a more workable 41 acres, said Mike Gilman, senior land development manager for Smart Centres.
"These additional seven acres allow us to bring into play the mix of businesses that we think work well in a shopping centre like this," Gilman said in an interview.
Each of the anchors is required by zoning to be about 75,000 square feet or larger. Wal-Mart is widely believed to be one of the anchors, but Gilman would not identify either of the stores.
"We're having a lot of conversations but we don't have firm deals in place yet."
While it's unusual for the city to sell land untendered, it's not unheard of, said Mayor Don Atchison.
The city's policy is to sell land by tender except in limited circumstances, such as selling it to the adjacent land owner.
"I don't think we're breaking new ground here," Atchison said. "In some areas of the city, we've got a hodge-podge of developments. It's difficult to get traffic through and it's dangerous.
"We've got to get away from piecemealing these projects together. We need a more constant flow in the area."
While the city has previously sold industrial land untendered, it has never sold commercial land that way, said Rick Howse, the city's land branch manager.
The land Smart Centres wants still needs to be appraised.
The city plans to sell it for the average of two independent appraisals.
The city's sale agreement with Smart Centres forces it to build soon.
Construction must be well underway on the two anchor stores by December 2010 and begun on the smaller stores on the additional land within a year after that. Smart Centres plans to begin work on the anchor stores in early 2009, Gilman said.
The box mall helps address long-standing complaints about limited shopping options on the west side.
Along with the Shaw Centre, which will have an Olympic-sized pool, it helps balance the attractions and services available between east and west sides, Atchison said.
"People actually believe there can be development throughout the whole city. And that's good for everyone."
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© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
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The problem with many walkways in our city is poor design (poor lighting, sight lines, lack of ownership)...well, same can be said for the design of suburban neighorhoods, we should fence or close off suburban neighborhoods from the rest of the city
(this already occurs!)
I've also included a piece from Paul Hanley, also published in today's SP (coincidence, I think not
). Hanley shares with us the benefits of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), something our local planning department and private developers sometimes fail to recognize when developing new parks, neighborhoods, or rehabilitating older elements of our city.
Lawson walkway stays open, others close
Rod Nickel, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Residents in three city neighbourhoods are going to take the long way home. Others in River Heights get to keep their walkway shortcut.
With a couple of dozen residents in the gallery, city council voted to close walkways on Meglund Crescent/Meglund Place in Wildwood, Sherry Crescent in Parkridge and Bornstein Crescent/Kenderdine Road in Erindale.
The city has for several years listened to requests to close walkways that, as neighbourhoods mature, have become hangouts and vandalism hubs.
Part of the blame falls to the city because it doesn't maintain them, said Coun. Maurice Neault.
"We don't pick up the turds, we don't do nothing," he said.
Council's longest debate was over a proposal to close the Coppermine Crescent-Churchill Drive walkway in River Heights despite an overwhelming majority of residents who want it to stay open.
Ninety-nine residents returned surveys saying they want the walkway to stay open, compared with 13 in favour of closure.
Council backed the majority and voted to leave the walkway open.
"No matter what we decide, I feel the community loses, because it's divisive," said Coun. Charlie Clark, gesturing toward two distinct River Heights groups sitting separately in the gallery.
Closing a walkway that most residents want would set "a bad precedent that flies in the face of democracy," said Lisa Weir, who lives across from the walkway.
"This walkway is our link to the Lawson Heights mall, schools and the bus mall," said resident Sylvia Link.
The four families who live directly adjacent to the walkway, however, say they have to regularly pick up garbage, paint over graffiti and deal with loitering youth.
"Is it fair that four families shoulder the problems of the walkway?" asked resident John Olson. "It's very easy for someone removed from the walkway to want to retain it."
Coun. Pat Lorje, who supports the minority of residents who want the walkway closed, said she hopes they aren't "ostracized" by the neighbourhood. Many of the residents who want the walkway open told council they'll be willing to help clean up garbage.
[email protected]
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
Source
Can CPTED apply to suburban neighborhood design and specifically, walkways connecting various streets within a neighborhood?
Good building design key to keeping bad guys away
Paul Hanley, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Expensive locks didn't help me when my office was robbed a few weeks ago, in broad daylight. The thief who made off with the computers was identified and caught through the vigilance of someone in my building who noted a suspicious character lurking about.
This experience points to the importance of natural surveillance for crime prevention, one of the principles of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design). CPTED, an approach that originated in the 1960s, is based on a theory that the proper design and effective use of the built environment can reduce crime and the fear of crime.
Research into criminal behaviour shows the decision to commit a crime or not is heavily influenced by cues about perceived risk of being caught. CPTED strategies increase a criminal's perceived risk of detection using three main strategies: Natural surveillance, natural access control and natural territorial reinforcement.
Natural surveillance, sometimes called "eyes on the street," is achieved by designing the placement of physical features, activities and people in ways that provide maximum visibility and foster positive social interaction among legitimate users of private and public space. Potential offenders feel increased scrutiny and limitations on their escape routes.
Examples include placing windows in active rooms -- such as kitchens, overlooking sidewalks and parking lots -- leaving window shades open or using the shortest, least sight-limiting fence appropriate for the situation.
Lighting design is an important element of natural surveillance. Poorly placed lights create blind spots for potential observers and miss critical areas. Although some areas need bright lighting, too-bright security lighting creates blinding glare and deep shadows, hindering the view for potential observers. Bright lighting can highlight people as targets. Lower-intensity lighting often requires more fixtures, but is generally much more energy efficient.
Natural access control limits the opportunity to commit crimes by establishing a clear difference between public and private space. Some ways it can be achieved include things like planting low, thorny bushes beneath ground level windows to deter people from looking in. In most cases, fencing should not obscure views and should make it easy for neighbours to connect, building a sense of social interaction. The closer the neighbours are, the more they look out for each other.
Another key measure of CPTED is territorial reinforcement, which employs such design elements as sidewalks, landscaping and porches to help distinguish between public and private areas and help users exhibit signs of ownership that give "hands off" messages to would-be offenders.
Physical design can create or extend a sphere of territorial influence that potential offenders can perceive. For example, low walls, landscape and paving patterns can clearly define the space around a unit entry as belonging to the residents of the unit.
Territorial reinforcement measures make the legitimate user feel safe and make the potential offender aware of a substantial risk of getting caught. It creates a sense of ownership, since owners have a vested interest in protecting their space. The sense of owned space creates an environment where "strangers" or "intruders" stand out and are more easily identified.
Some ways of achieving this include building design and landscaping that communicate an alert and active presence occupying the space. Placing amenities such as seating in common areas helps to attract larger numbers of desired users. Similarly, scheduling activities in common areas increases positive uses, attracts more people and increases the perception that these areas are controlled. Research also indicates that outdoor residential spaces with more trees are seen as significantly more attractive, safer and more likely to be used than similar spaces without trees.
On the other hand, a fortress mentality with measures like putting up heavy-duty cyclone fencing and razor wire actually communicate the absence of a physical presence and suggests lower risk of being detected. Good care and maintenance are also important, as deterioration indicates less concern and control by the intended users of a site and a greater tolerance of disorder.
CPTED takes more upfront effort but usually involves lower long-term costs, lower losses due to crime and higher quality of life.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
Source
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One of the most positive developments I've heard all week.
Darker skies touted for energy savings
City plans to replace wasteful older streetlights
Rod Nickel, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Saskatoon skies are going dark after city council asked administration to draft a policy to replace street lighting with lamps that aim light only where it's needed.
The city passed a policy last year that will see flat-lens street lamps installed in all new developments. The latest policy, requested by the city's environmental advisory committee, will commit the city to eventually replacing all lights on public property in Saskatoon.
"Wasted energy is wasted money," Sean Shaw, vice-chair of the committee told council.
Dark-sky lights keep light on the property where the fixture is located and out of the sky. The advantages are lower energy and maintenance costs and fewer complaints about glare, according to a report by the environmental advisory committee.
There is no timetable or cost estimate for changing over streetlights. Mayor Don Atchison says the changeover isn't imminent.
"If anyone thinks it's going to happen that quickly, they're going to be disappointed," he said in an interview. "Reality sets in when you hear what the numbers are."
In Calgary, they were encouraging. That city found savings in maintaining its dark-sky lights because it takes one worker, not two, to change the bulb, according to the environmental advisory committee's report. Calgary spent $7.5 million retrofitting much of its conventional streetlights and so far calculates energy savings at $2 million annually. Flat-lens lights that the city bought for Hampton Village cost about five per cent more than standard lights.
Several projects around Saskatoon already have dark-sky lighting. The environmental advisory committee submitted photos to council of River Landing, the Riversdale skatepark and Griffiths Stadium as examples of dark-sky lighting.
It also flagged a number of light-polluting projects -- the Dakota Dunes casino, the Royal University Hospital parking lot and streetlights on 23rd Street and Spadina Crescent.
The committee recommends the next step to be a review ranking the environmental soundness of all existing lights in the city as a way to prioritize replacement of lighting fixtures.
In most, cases, lights should be retrofitted when they wear out, to minimize costs, the committee suggests.
To make the change citywide, city hall will need the co-operation of Sask Power and the ministry of highways. SaskPower is responsible for streetlights in newer suburbs, while the ministry looks after lights on freeways and thoroughfares.
Older areas of Saskatoon were designed for traditional light standards and might end up too dark with flat-lens lamps unless the city installs more fixtures, Atchison said.
The report also suggests the city not light back alleys.
Atchison, who chairs the police commission, said the city already leaves alleys dark, but would consider shining a light on high-crime alleys despite the dark-sky policy.
"If it's a safety issue, you need to address it."
[email protected]
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
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