City of Saskatoon Corridor Growth - Brownfield Renewal Strategy

The City of Saskatoon will develop a Brownfield Renewal Strategy (BRS) targeted at revitalizing the City’s major corridors for transit-oriented development to support a planned bus rapid transit system (BRT) and meet a broader goal of 50% infill development. The BRS will identify and prioritize public (right of ways, BRT station sites) and private brownfield sites along transit corridors and facilitate renewal through remediation, incentive programs and guidance materials. Direct benefits will include land made available for reuse, remediation or risk management of contaminated soil and groundwater, and waste diverted from landfill. Broader indirect benefits may include GHG reduction through increased public transportation options and ridership, implementation of sustainable building technologies on redeveloped lands, and increased tax revenue from corridor revitalization. Development of the BRS stems from broader City objectives spurred by population growth pressure. Saskatoon’s current population of 271,000 is expected to nearly double within the next 30 to 40 years. In preparation for this doubling, the City has developed the Growth Plan to Half a Million (GP) (2016). A pillar of the GP is the Corridor Growth Program (CGP) which includes a component to review barriers to corridor development, such as financial and regulatory hurdles surrounding real or perceived contamination. Public consultation and municipal reporting has and will continue to be conducted in collaboration with the overall GP development. The BRS is linked to a long list of existing plans and policies, including The City’s Strategic Plan (2013), the Vacant Lot and Adaptive Reuse Program (2010), and the new Official Community Plan and Climate Change Mitigation Business Plan, both of which are in progress. The City of Saskatoon is a member of FCM’s Leadership in Brownfield Renewal (LiBRe) program. “State of the Industry” brownfield redevelopment program research will be conducted to determine what has been done in other municipalities across Canada. The findings will be adapted to the local legislative, political and socio-economic environment to develop recommendations that are appropriate and effective for the City of Saskatoon. Brownfield sites associated with the CGP will be identified and prioritized for redevelopment, which will help to determine further investigative work that is required on these sites. The City will take a triple bottom line approach to site prioritization by utilizing the Brownfields Marketability Scoring Tool (BMST). The resulting BRS document will include key findings from the research conducted, a list of priority sites and investigative work required for each, key incentives and policy changes which will allow for successful brownfield redevelopment along the BRT line, and a monitoring strategy to measure performance indicators. The BRS will contribute to local brownfield redevelopment and contamination management capacity, and is expected to be expanded to other areas of the City. By approaching the development of a Brownfield Action Plan through systemic engagement with broader municipal planning projects, the City of Saskatoon will provide knowledge value to fellow LiBRe members and other municipalities across Canada. (Project description from original funding application)