We had a busy day at Council with over 20 speakers on various items, so I’m going to just cover the more critical items and be as concise as possible to prevent a wall of text.
– Transportation Fines, Fees and Permits – disobedience to traffic signs, obstructing traffic at an intersection, splashing a pedestrian, driving over freshly painted lines, and incoveniencing pedestrians all had their fines increased to be in alignment with other municipalities. The item regarding homeowners paying for their residential accessibility parking spots was deferred by my motion in the Transportartion Committee so we could have appropriate feedback from several advisory committees on accessibility and aging.
– Naming of Civic Property and Development Area Policy – Some changes to our policy on how nominations for naming streets and parks were discussed to make the process more inclusive. The options approved were to go with a annual engagement process, to consider a budget proposal to enhance the process further, and to report back on having the DEIAC more involved. I voted against the the further budget proposal as it adds more to the budget for 2027 / 2028, and with families waiting as far back as 1987 for something to be named, it would be unfair for the City to keep asking for more names when we have a backlog of 157 approved names that already exist.
– 51st Street & Millar Ave. Intersection Improvement – Along with the next item, we had numerous speakers and comments on this item.
The first option was proposed by the Transportation Committee provided significantly better pedestrian traffic safety, left options to access the 32 businesses in the area more easily, and prevented a potential 25%-50% business loss. This option was defeated with a 5 – 5 vote with Block, McDonald, Jeffries, Parker, and Timone voting against it.
The second option from Administration was then moved which involved a dramatic change to the intersection eliminating left turns and put numerous businesses at risk. It was defeated with Dubois, Ford, Doneur, Davies and myself voting against it. With a stalemate scenario on both options, there is no direction and dies. As this would have been a shelf project among others with potentially higher priorities waiting for funding, it can be revisited as needed.
– Connecting Millar Ave from 43rd Street to Maquis Drive – as mentioned, this item had several speakers and comments submitted. The motion allowed for a mutlipurpose path on one side of the road so everyone has a safe path to walk and bike the route safely. Transit will have 18 stops along the route, currently has roughly 200 transit users per day, and there are no paved bus stops or sidewalks, just a post designating the spot as a bus stop. Businesses in the area and many comments I received prior to this meeting thought the multiuse path on one side was a fair compromise. Again, this is a shelf project and we currently have 40km of needed sidewalk before this was considered. The motion passed unanimously.
Councillor Dubois and myself also moved that Admin report back on the right of way or city owned property in the area for parking and temporary storage without a lease for formal agreement, and options to address those situations. It passed unamimously.
– Naming Rights Agreement for Centennial Auditorium – TCU informed the city they would not be continuing with their naming rights, and so Cameco entered into agreements and we 10 year agreement starting Jan. 2027 and will be worth $3.85M along with a few perks involving some free meeting space, box with 6 tickets to select shows, etc. It passed unanimimously.
– Preliminary Financial Analysis of Relocating Wildwood Golf Course – Councillor Jeffries made this motion several months ago and it was a motion I voted against. The report basically indicated that the City would lose roughly $20M in such a relocation. The report was received as information and no further action will be taken