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Proposed solar Saskatoon neighbourhood designed 'in a vacuum,' planners say

The company trying to develop a solar-powered neighbourhood behind the southeast Costco says Saskatoon cannot afford to wait, despite city planners saying they're not keen on the location or the timing.

Arbutus says ecologically-sensitive design 'should jump the queue'

Jennifer Quesnel · CBC News ·
The company's vision for Saskatoon is to build the largest solar energy residential development in Canada. (Arbutus Properties )

Jeff Drexel fumed Monday as he listened for nearly 30 minutes to a "laundry list" of reasons why existing blueprints for his company's Solair subdivision do not fit Saskatoon's expansion plan.

He said it's "disappointing" his company, Arbutus Properties, and city staff have met five times since August and have yet to address what planners characterized as "technical" issues with Solair.

"We don't think society is changing fast enough," Drexel said. "We need to make changes today."

Arbutus told city councillors building solar-powered homes in existing neighbourhoods would make them far more expensive than starting from scratch on the south-east corner of the city. (Arbutus Properties)

Arbutus wants to build a subdivision of 3,200 solar-powered homes built from energy-efficient material, complete with rain gardens catching storm water.

He said doing the same thing on a smaller scale in existing developments would cost far home buyers far more.

Single-family homes in Solair starting at $350,000 would account for roughly 40 per cent of the neighbourhood. The rest of the homes would be mixed-use or multi-family dwellings.

The eco-development would straddle the southeast corner of Saskatoon's city limits, with dense urban residential streets sitting east of the Canadian Pacific railroad on what's currently farmland owned by Stefan and Roma Franko. 

"This takes a significant step in the right direction, in fact a giant leap really," said Drexel. "That's why we think this should jump the queue and should be put ahead of everyone else."

Saskatoon's city planners and city manager disagree.

"It's disconnected physically by a rail line and shows no context for the immediate areas adjacent to it," said Lesley Anderson, Saskatoon's director of planning and development. "It has been designed in a vacuum and has disregarded a number of policies and legislation."

She said the plan for six new neighbourhoods including Brighton on Saskatoon's east side already accommodates a city of up to 500,000 people, with no need to further expand city limits.

"I don't want to see it be 20, 30, 40 years down the road," said Ann Iwanchuk, calling the plans for Solair an extraordinary opportunity for the City of Saskatoon. "I think the economic spinoffs are huge." (Arbutus Properties)

"We need to figure out a way to make paradigm shifts when it comes to green development," said Saskatoon's mayor, Charlie Clark.

He said he'd rather see innovative neighbourhoods built on land the city already owns.

Following two hours of discussion, Saskatoon's planning and development committee voted to ask all of council to approve adding Solair to the Holmwood Suburban Development Area.

"It's a holistic way of looking at development," said Jeff Drexel, president of Arbutus Properties. (Submitted by Arbutus Properties)

The plan will also go before the Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth (P4G), to ensure all partners have a coordinated approach to land use and development.

City staff also have until the end of summer to report back on the financial implications of pursuing the development.

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