Downtown Plan Update

This was supposed to run as a sidebar to last issue's coverage of the Wow Project. Didn't get in for whatever reason.

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It seems reports in a previous prairie dog claiming the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan could go before Regina Planning Commission in late June or early July were a tad optimistic. The summer is apparently making scheduling difficult.

When asked when we can expect to see the plan move forward, Director of Planning and Sustainability, Bob Bjerke, says, “I don’t know. But we have some good ideas.”

And as to whether or not we could perhaps see it before September, he replies, “That is entirely possible.”

“At this point, it depends on availability,” he says. “We want to make sure we can get everyone together in the same place.”

And while the plan is in danger of butting up against the municipal election, Bjerke says that shouldn’t be a problem.

“We’re not at all concerned about the election,” he says. “This is not a new controversial issue. Everybody is on board and everybody is probably quite anxious to get it through. We’ve got good support all the way through.”

As for concerns that the plan may have gotten watered down by consultation conducted during this last delay, Bjerke says that isn’t what’s happened, noting that most of the recent changes were only made to the text.

“There’ll be some changes but there won’t be any changes of direction, just further refinements to the plan,” he says. “I’m quite happy with how they’re going.”

He does note though: “There are some things in the Built-Form Framework that we’re going to be changing. But we’ll walk people through them.”