Saskatoon Public Library offers to pay for streetscape design around new downtown branch

Proposal calls for potentially taking out driving lanes for angle parking, adding accessible stalls around new site.

This artist's rendering shows what the new downtown library in Saskatoon is supposed to look like from the intersection of 25th Street and Second Avenue. (Saskatoon Public Library)jpg

The Saskatoon Public Library board has offered to cover the cost of a design project that would, hopefully, help answer many questions about a proposal to change the configuration of Second Avenue around the SPL’s upcoming new downtown central branch.

Members of city council’s transportation committee on Tuesday discussed a report from city staff suggesting council fund a $175,000 design project, in response to a letter from the SPL board calling for improvements to the streetscape in order to ensure the new central branch meets an accessibility standard set by the Rick Hansen Foundation.

Responding to questions from the committee, SPL CEO Carol Cooley said the proposal arose from consultations with a working group of people with lived experience of disability.

Those consultations were originally intended to be about improving accessibility standards inside the building, but the discussions soon turned to issues around accessibility in Saskatoon’s downtown, Cooley said.

Jay Magus, the city’s director of transportation, told the committee it may prove difficult to redesign only one block in front of the new library. He suggested work would likely have to incorporate the two blocks between 23rd Street East and 25th Street East, to avoid a one-block gap in design with the rest of Second Avenue.

Magus said having the consultant do the design work would determine the cost of any eventual project, enabling council to make a final decision before the 2024-25 budget cycle. He said the design work would also answer whether work could perhaps be confined to just one block.

He suggested a final design might not include angled stalls, noting these could create a risk of vehicles backing into cyclists, but he said the city administration would work with the consultant to ensure the library’s accessibility goals are met, while respecting the city’s needs for traffic flow, safety and alternate transportation. 

Coun. Bev Dubois said she broadly supports public libraries and more accessible parking downtown, but would not support the design work at this time, given uncertainty about future needs for driving lanes and street configurations downtown, in light of a proposed new arena and entertainment district, a new bus rapid transit system and the new library building.

Coun. Hilary Gough sits on the SPL board as representative from council, but is not a member of the transportation committee. As a councillor, she was able to sit in on Tuesday’s meeting and ask questions. She asked Cooley if the SPL would be willing to pay for the design consultant.

Cooley said the SPL could fund the consultant as part of the new library project. She also suggested the SPL might be open to putting money into any eventual work that is done, noting funds are already set aside to repair the sidewalks around the new branch to their original condition once construction is complete.

The committee voted to have city staff come back to council later this month with a report on having the SPL pay for the streetscape design around its new branch. Dubois and Coun. Randy Donauer were opposed.