Lacrosse group can sell alcohol at Sportsplex during Junior games, council says

Jason G. Antonio - Moose Jaw Express

June 5, from 7 to 10 p.m., Friday, June 23 to Sunday, June 25, from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. for playoffs, Tuesday, July 4 from 7 to 10 p.m. and Wednesday, July 5 to Sunday, July 9 from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. for provincials.

The team will use the money for buses, hotels and meals when on the road. It expects about 40 people to attend the home games and access the licensed areas.

The policy says the Kinsmen Arena is a discretionary use site for alcohol-related activities, so the event operator must submit a written request to city hall, which reviews the application and sends it to council for approval, a council report explained.

This is the first year Moose Jaw will have a junior lacrosse team in the provincial league after a 10-year absence, while players’ ages are similar to the Miller Express baseball team, which receives an annual liquor permit for sales at Ross Wells Park, the report continued.

There are five teams in the league — Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, Regina, Swift Current and Saskatoon — with P.A. and Swift Current selling alcohol during games and Regina choosing not to. Saskatoon did not provide city hall with an answer.

The Sportsplex pool will be open for regular hours during the games — which many minors and families will attend — while the adjacent pickleball courts, ball diamond and skate park draw patrons into the building to use the lobby and washrooms, the report said.

City hall recommended that alcohol sales and consumption be limited to the southwest corner so they were out of sight of patrons and young families using the pool and other building amenities, the document continued. Moreover, washroom access will be shared between the public and fans at the games.

The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Association (SLGA) will also evaluate the request as part of the permitting process to determine whether the event is appropriate and can have a permit.

The lacrosse association informed city hall that it is prepared to meet or exceed all conditions that the city and SLGA have, the report added. Moreover, all volunteers will complete responsible alcohol service training for special occasions, as SLGA requires.

Council opens the door to letting residents legally use e-scooters here

Electronic scooters — e-scooters — have become a popular method of travel, but the provincial government has let municipalities set their own rules regarding the devices and whether they can even be used.

Moose Jaw’s city council has zoomed into this issue by directing city administration to change The Traffic Bylaw to allow e-scooter usage here. City hall must return with an amended bylaw soon.

Council voted 4-3 during its May 8 regular meeting to have city administration amend the bylaw. Opposed were councillors Jamey Logan, Doug Blanc and Heather Eby, while in favour were Mayor Clive Tolley and councillors Kim Robinson, Crystal Froese and Dawn Luhning.

City administration had initially recommended that the report about e-scooter use be received and filed — an action that would have ended the possibility of allowing the use of those devices here.

This issue came to council because last fall, former city manager Jim Puffalt directed the department of legislative and enforcement services to review The Traffic Bylaw and provide advice on possible changes to let people operate e-scooters, a council report explained.

In Moose Jaw, walking and mobility aids are allowed on sidewalks and shared pathways but not on roads, the report pointed out.

Further, bicycles are not allowed on sidewalks but are allowed on roads and shared paths; segways and other motorized mobility devices are allowed on sidewalks and shared paths but not streets; and e-scooters are not allowed anywhere.

Residents are already using e-scooters around the city, while the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) has said it’s difficult to charge anyone with offences for using them, said Coun. Dawn Luhning. She wanted the bylaw updated so people could use the devices legally.

The MJPS informed city hall that regardless of bylaws, it will be a problem to apprehend offenders because of e-scooters’ portability and capability to evade law enforcement, the council report said. The agency has already experienced issues dealing with offenders using motorized skateboards.

Furthermore, few adult e-scooters are limited to the provincially established maximum speed of 24 km/h, the report added.

Andrew Svenson, city solicitor and director of legislative and enforcement services, encouraged council to think about the rules it wanted to put around the use of e-scooters and how to regulate them.

He explained that Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) consulted with stakeholders in 2021 to determine whether to allow e-scooters on the streets. This led to changes in provincial laws in 2022, where the province gave municipalities the power to decide whether to approve the devices and the guidelines for their use.

Svenson added that Regina and Saskatoon are trialling e-scooter use by working with private-sector vendors to rent the devices. They will determine whether to allow them permanently once the project is over.

There were 223 people who provided feedback by email to SGI, with 60.5 per cent of people in favour of allowing e-scooters on public roads, SGI’s report said. The most common positive reason was that the devices were an eco-friendly alternative; conversely, safety was the respondents’ main concern.

Other benefits included cost-savings, tourism-boosting potential and user enjoyment. Some concerns included insurance premiums, additional need for law enforcement, rider behaviour, and lack of equipment standards.

Stakeholders also recommended that the operation of e-scooters be restricted to roads with a speed limit of 50 kilometres per hour; that the minimum age be around 14 or 16; that helmets be mandatory; that the maximum speed be 20 to 32 km/h; and that there be zero tolerance for alcohol or drug use.

SGI noted that between 1988 and 2020, there were 199 collisions involving mopeds or powered bicycles and vehicles. Of those incidents, 106 people were injured and four died.

City to change OCP, zoning bylaw to accommodate Valley View project

Carpere Canada’s proposed Valley View Centre project has taken another step forward after city council agreed to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning bylaw to allow for further site redevelopment.

The entire site will be rezoned as a direct control district (DCD) — the first within the city — because it will take nearly a decade to build everything in the concept plan and because of changing market demands and various proposed uses.

The OCP says the city may create DCDs to deal more effectively with larger developments that face unique situations and do not fit traditional zoning requirements.

During its May 8 meeting, council voted unanimously to have city administration proceed with public notices to amend the OCP to accommodate a DCD, change the OCP future land use map of the Valley View site to DCD1 from community service (CS), and amend the OCP’s development constraints map to remove the environmental conservation easement from the site to address a mapping error.

City hall will then proceed with public notices to add DCD1 to the zoning bylaw and rezone the Valley View site to DCD1 from CS.

City administration will also post large signs in the area announcing the proposed amendments. Council specifically asked for this because of how frequently residents access that area.

Once these changes occur — the province must officially approve them — Carpere Canada can apply to council to subdivide the land, have affected streets and lanes closed and enter into service agreements.

“I really appreciate that we’re moving toward a direct control district because that gives a very distinct communication … . This is a big project with a lot of moving parts,” said Coun. Crystal Froese. “… we’ve never had this before because we’ve never had a neighbourhood quite like this come before us.”

Valley View was initially zoned as a community service/institutional district because of its past operations, a council report explained. Meanwhile, the OCP development constraints map inaccurately identified areas near the site — but not Valley View proper — as part of an environmental conservation easement.

Some DCD regulations include:

- Added land use definitions, including pop-up retail, live work units, urban farming and business incubators

- Regulations for pop-up retail spaces and to encourage active and pedestrian-oriented development

- Requirements for landscaping plans

- Flexible parking regulations

- Bicycle parking standards

- Council must approve all development proposals, excluding one-dwelling and pop-up retail spaces Furthermore, the DCD1 development proposals must include:

The conceptual design of the proposed buildings

The colour, texture and type of materials and window detail and architectural details of the exteriors of the proposed buildings

The relationship of the proposed buildings to adjacent accessible buildings

Details of interior walkways, stairs and escalators to which residents have access from streets, open spaces and

Walkways In Nearby Buildings

The Richmond, British Columbia-based company held an open house at Grant Hall on April 13 as part of this process, which saw only seven residents — plus consultant Wallace Insights, Carpere owner Terry Tian, and two city staff — attend, the report continued.

The event featured four display boards, an OCP amendment map, the zoning bylaw amendment map and the DCD1 zoning provisions. There was also a continuously running PowerPoint presentation, the concept plan and a project fact sheet.

There was no opposition to the proposed rezoning, although most people wanted clarification about how far the development would be from the valley’s edge. They learned the development is away from the edge — Carpere must obey the city’s slumping regulations — and that area will be left as parkland.

There was also talk about Aboriginals’ historic use of the area.

“Former unmarked graves … may exist on the periphery of Valley View, but do not appear to be near the development sites,” the meeting summary said.

Attendees also had questions about what would happen if Carpere did something that went against the concept plan, the council report said.

Municipal officials said the city would not issue development permits if the plan did not conform to the OCP or zoning bylaw. Any major changes would have to occur as an amendment to the concept plan or zoning bylaw.

“Overall, most people did not appear to have concerns with the proposed DCD1 zoning district,” the report added.