“Whether they like me or not, I find it more effective to communicate regularly and try to talk these things through and find solutions, rather than just stonewalling,” Drexel added.He said Hill understands what they are trying to do.
Drexel said they are going to a development appeal board on Dec. 8 to try and overturn the city’s decision, noting they’d like to get started on the project as quickly as possible. Hill said the decision on the table at the Nov. 2 council meeting was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate being collaborative with developers, especially those working on affordable housing, but said they didn’t do that.
“I believe there was little to no risk to the City of Saskatoon by removing the hold on that parcel because we could have mitigated risk down to almost zero by simply issuing a foundation permit,” Hill said.“The administration’s concerns about what happens if the building gets occupied before the lift station is built were not founded on anything that is really substantial.
“I’ve been on council for 16 years and we have been talking about a grocery store downtown for all 16 of those years.”