Pot shops, railways and street names on city agenda

Things are busy at city hall with the mayor and council slated to deal with a number of issues.

Pot shop zoning, how the city names parks and streets and the train tracks on Ring Road are among the items on the agenda for the City of Regina in the near future.

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere spoke to the 980 CJME Morning Show Tuesday to shed some light on what the city is currently discussing.

Pot shop zoning

With marijuana legalization on the way, the city is looking at where people will be able to set up shop to sell the product.

A report going to the city’s planning commission Wednesday will focus on the separation needed between the stores and where they can go within the city.

“We’re going to treat them the same way as liquor stores, it’s a controlled substance so where you see a liquor store you may see a store for cannabis,” Fougere said.

The city is also trying to keep cannabis stores away from anywhere kids might be present, so the shops will need to be at least 600 feet away schools, daycares and public spaces like parks.

Ring Road railway tracks

It’s caused headaches for many Regina drivers, but the city is beginning to look at what it can do to ease traffic tie-ups caused by the train tracks on Ring Road.

Fougere said the city approved hiring a consultant to study the options of an overpass, underpass or relocating the rail lines.

“We have to understand how much it is going to cost, what’s the impact and then the design of that as well,” Fougere said.

The city wants to find out what’s feasible for drivers and infrastructure. Fougere said he believes moving the tracks would have less of an impact on the current infrastructure.

“CN and CP have said they want to talk about that, so it’s a good first step … that doesn’t mean that they support it, it means they want to talk about it.”

Fougere noted it is going to take time for the evaluation to be completed.

More Indigenous names for streets and parks

Another report expected to be put in front of the planning commission and council deals with the pool of names for future streets and parks.

Fougere said they want to update how city streets are named and want to include more Indigenous names.

“We’re looking at suggesting that 25 per cent of new names for streets come from Indigenous origins and 50 per cent for parks.”

He said the review wouldn’t include renaming current buildings, streets or statues, with that conversation to come later.