Saskatoon committee to vote on flood control, corporate environmental leadership program

Photo Credit: Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce on X

Saskatoon’s Committee on Environment, Utilities, and Corporate Services will be voting on commencing two flood control projects on Tuesday.

In December of 2018, City Council approved the nine-year 54.0 million Flood Control Strategy. So far, three of nine projects have been completed, and administration is now recommending that work begin on the next two, a dry storm pond in Meadowgreen’s Cahill Park and a large storm sewer along 24th Street.

The pond would mitigate flooding near the intersection of 21st Street West and Avenue W South, and the sewer would curb flooding for buildings near 24th Street and 3rd Avenue, and 25th Street and 4th Avenue intersections. The Cahill Park project is expected to cost $4.4 million, and the 24th Street project is forecast to be $8.7 million.

Both projects are funded through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund and the Storm Water Utility, however, each project is tied to $500,000 in design costs that are ineligible to be covered. The projects will be discussed and decided upon at tomorrow’s committee meeting.

City administration is also encouraging Saskatoon’s Committee on Environment, Utilities, and Corporate Services to establish a Corporate Environmental Leadership program.

A report from administration, to be presented Tuesday as well, suggests that in many cases, community environmental action is preceding corporate environmental action, and corporate environmental performance is not meeting targets or being tracked.

To address this, the City wants to implement a new program that would close performance gaps and help all civic operations achieve sustainability outcomes. The scope of the program would include an Environmental Sustainability Civic Staff Engagement Program, a Corporate Regulatory Compliance focus, and a reporting feature on the performance of Corporate Environmental Leadership.

The total estimated funding requirement for the program is $55,000 in 2026 and $80,000 in 2027, all to be funded by the mill rate.