No Blanket ReZoning YXE

Send a Letter Now to Oppose Blanket Re-Zoning in Saskatoon, before it’s too late!

Did you know that City Council will be voting on June 27 on whether or not to totally change all of our Residential Zoning? There is no time to waste – we have to urge City Council to VOTE NO on all of the proposed Amendments:

  1. If passed, these Amendments would wipe out all our existing, historical Residential Zoning.
  2. They would allow 4-Plexes, as a RIGHT, in all Residential neighbourhoods
  3. They would allow 4 Storey, no maximum number of units, apartment buildings, as a RIGHT, in most areas that have always been Zoned for single family homes and duplexes... 15 metre tall buildings looming over our homes and our yards!
  4. They would increase the site coverage allowed by 25% - 50%, resulting in massively oversized buildings right in low-rise, low density neighbourhoods.
  5. They would remove all requirements for developers to provide off-street parking, adding huge congestion to street parking.
  6. They would allow commercial intrusion into single family home neighbourhoods.

These are the most RADICAL Proposals in the City’s history – they would strip people of the R1 (single family homes) and R2 (duplexes allowed) Zoning that protects their properties and their neighbourhoods. The Administration is rushing this all through before people realize what’s going on.

What can we do to stop this?

  1. Send this Letter now – it takes just a few minutes to fill it in, and your Letter will be sent immediately to City Council so your Opposition can be heard before it’s too late!
  2. Share this page with others Opposed to wiping out our Zoning and protections
  3. Share on Facebook
  4. Attend the Public Hearing City Council Meeting Thursday June 27 9:30 AM.
  5. Sign the Petition - No Blanket Re-Zoning of Saskatoon’s Residential Neighbourhoods
  6. Tell your neighbours and friends so that they are informed.

Consequences of Blanket ReZoning

This wholesale Re-Zoning of our homes and neighbourhoods WILL NOT:

  • Create affordable housing
  • Do anything to help with the current housing shortage. It was not caused by Saskatoon’s Residential Zoning – it was caused by high interest and mortgage rates, inflation, a temporary lack of skilled workers, and post-Covid repercussions.
  • Build more houses

These destructive Proposed Amendments to Re-Zone all our Residential neighbourhoods WILL:

  • Have PROFOUND, IRREVERSIBLE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS on those who have consciously, deliberately, and in good faith, purchased homes in specific neighbourhoods, with specific zoning and density mixes that suit their needs and vision for their families.
  • Place the interests of ‘the few’ ahead of and above ‘the many’ who will pay a huge, unexpected and unnecessary price for Blanket Re-Zoning.
  • Cause existing homes to be torn down, leaving fewer of them for people to buy or rent, and making them even more expensive.
  • Make houses LESS affordable for people to buy or rent by turning them into development opportunities instead of homes for people to live in, with yards and space for them and their families.
  • Cost the City, we the taxpayers, hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade existing infrastructure in older neighbourhoods that were designed and engineered for low density. Sewer, water and gas lines will have to be dug up and replaced as developers tear down houses and build apartment buildings.
  • Create awful parking congestion.

The fastest, most efficient and stable way to add housing is to build density from scratch, in the new areas that are already serviced, ready for it and zoned for it.

  • Thousands of new units have already been added this way without the City’s taxpayers getting stuck with the bill for replacing all of the infrastructure in existing neighbourhoods that were designed for LOW density – a bill that would be hundreds of millions of dollars that Saskatoon does NOT HAVE.

Send a Letter of Opposition Now – before it’s too late!

It only takes a few minutes and the Council Meeting and Vote is Thursday June 27!

“Gentle” and “Gradual” is how the City is portraying the most radical changes in Saskatoon’s history...and that is FALSE!

  1. It’s not “Gentle” when a 4 Storey, 15 metre tall apartment building is looming over your home and yard, destroying forever your privacy and quiet.
  2. Imagine lighting up your BBQ in the summer and the apartments overlooking your yard start complaining.
  3. It’s not “Gradual” when several existing homes on one block are torn down and replaced by 4-plexes...or massive 4-Storey apartment buildings.

These HUGELY impactful Proposed Amendments to wholesale Re-Zone our Residential Neighbourhoods have been rushed through with ZERO consultation and limited, constantly changing and contradictory information. The City says this inexcusable lack of process and deliberation is necessary to meet the changing demands of the Federal Government to access a maximum of $10 MM per year for up to 4 years from the Housing Accelerator Fund.

  • The City has already just passed Amendment increasing density by 50% - 100% by significant increases in secondary suites and removing existing off- street parking requirements for secondary suites.
  • We have to see the impact those changes first. That is sensible and prudent and should be enough to satisfy the Federal Government to still qualify for the maximum $41 MM from the Housing Accelerator Fund.
  • If it’s not, then Saskatoon is better off without it – it would end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade all of our infrastructure to meet their demands – that’s a bad bargain!

Tell City Council that Saskatoon doesn’t need the Federal Government forcing massive, hugely expensive and destructive changes – changes designed for cities like Toronto and Vancouver – onto Saskatoon. Saskatoon needs Prairie Practical, Budget Smart, Right-for-Saskatoon ways to continue increasing Saskatoon’s supply of housing in the best, most efficient way possible - not 1-Size-Fits-All dictates from Ottawa.

ACT NOW – Send this letter urging CITY COUNCIL to VOTE NO on all of these Amendments that would immediately and permanently Re-Zone all of our Residential Neighbourhoods. The Meeting is Thursday June 27 9:30 AM. It will take all of us sending letters and speaking at the Public Hearing for City Council to VOTE NO.

There are multiple Amendments – you can request to speak on every one – They ALL have to be voted down or we will LOSE our Zoning forever!

  1. The Corridor Growth Boundary and Land Use Amendments, which wipes our all of our Current R1 (single family homes) and R2 (single family homes and duplexes) Zoning and,
  2. The Housing Accelerator Fund - Official Community Plan Amendments.
  3. The Housing Accelerator Fund - Permitting 4 Units in all Residential Zoning Districts, and
  4. The Housing Accelerator Fund – Permitting 4 Storeys within the Transit Development Area. The Transit Development Area stretches 800 metres each direction from a planned bus transit route, blanketing Saskatoon’s Residential neighbourhoods.

Attend the Council Meeting Public Hearing 9:30 AM Thursday June 27

Take Action

Submissions temporarily disabled

Letter Preview

Dear Councillors and Mayor Clark,

I strongly urge you to vote NO on all of the proposed amendments that would overturn our existing low-density residential zoning to allow four units per lot everywhere and four-storey developments in many areas that have always been zoned for single-family homes. These are our homes, and we have invested our finances and our lives in them. For Council to now decide that four-storey apartment buildings can be developed next door to and behind our houses, overshadowing them and ruining everything about why we bought them, is absolutely wrong.

It is unbelievable that the biggest changes to zoning in Saskatoon’s history are being rushed through without proper consultation and extremely limited engagement. There is a long list of negative consequences that are being ignored, and Saskatoon cannot afford that. This blanket rezoning would cost the City hundreds of millions of dollars to dig up our streets and upgrade our infrastructure, far outweighing the $41 million the federal government is offering. Saskatoon has already passed significant changes to secondary suites, allowing for increased density of 50% - 100% in these neighbourhoods. The right and prudent thing to do is to see the impacts of that first, on our infrastructure, the budget, and our neighbourhoods.

Read more

Saskatoon deserves better, and it is up to you, our City Council, to acknowledge that this is not how anything should be handled, least of all something with such massive consequences. Infills of four units per lot, and especially four-storey multiple-unit buildings, will negatively impact whole neighbourhoods and individual homes with these proposed much larger buildings. There is no way to mitigate the impacts.

It will cause existing homes in otherwise good condition to be torn down, and that is NOT what Saskatoon needs right now. The trees that provide valuable habitat and environmental resilience will disappear. The lack of off-street parking requirements will create problems and conflicts.

Saskatoon can do better. We can work together to add more housing in smart ways that don’t tear up neighbourhoods, that don’t cause single-family homes, which are in such short supply already, to be torn down, that don’t wreck peoples’ homes and peace, and that don’t saddle the City with huge costs and negative impacts that haven’t been addressed.

I urge you to vote NO on all of this blanket rezoning:

  • NO on the Corridor Growth Boundary and Land Use Amendments,
  • NO on the Housing Accelerator Fund Official Community Plan Amendments,
  • NO on the Housing Accelerator Fund - Permitting four units in all residential zoning districts, and
  • NO on the Housing Accelerator Fund - Permitting four storeys within the Transit Development Area.

Thank you.

If you would like to contact your councillor or the mayor directly:

Important Notes!

  • We are not keeping your Contact Information. Any information you choose to enter on this website is not retained after the campaign ends, and is not for distribution or sale. It will only be included in correspondence that you send to Saskatoon City Council through this website for the purposed of verifying and validating the authenticity of the sender of that correspondence.
  • We are independent and we are unaffiliated with any interest group, political party or any other organization.

No Blanket ReZoning YXE

Facebook