CNIB building in Wascana Park allowed to continue approval process

After being put on hold last year — and after the process was roundly criticized by the provincial auditor — the new CNIB/Brandt building slated for Wascana Park is back on the approval track.

On Friday, Minister Responsible for the Provincial Capital Commission (PCC) Lori Carr announced the project would be allowed to continue to go through the approval process.

The PCC is the body in charge of Wascana Park.

Public concerns over the CNIB/Brandt building came to a head last year over the fact the building would also include commercial and office space. The project was put on hold in the spring until the provincial auditor’s report on the PCC was done.

In December, the auditor called on the PCC to improve its approval processes and its transparency. The auditor also called on the organization to do a better job of consulting with the public on controversial developments, like the CNIB/Brandt building.

“In this particular situation, they cannot show that they fulfilled their responsibilities,” said the auditor, Judy Ferguson. “We think that they should be transparent with their decision-making, make sure people understand the process that they’re using, make sure that they are getting sufficient public input and public consultation — they need to work on that area. When they make those decisions, share those decisions.”

On Friday, the PCC’s CEO, Monique Goffinet Miller, said the building would continue in the approval process as long as it fulfils some requirements.

The project will have to be shown to be fully compliant with the architectural advisory committee. It’ll have to be shown how all the land use will be compliant to the five pillars of the park master plan — education, recreation, culture, environment, and seat of government. And it will have to conduct additional public communication and engagement, including for the use of the whole building instead of just the CNIB portion.

When asked whether the tenancy makeup of the building which had previously sparked outcry — including commercial and office space — would still be acceptable, Goffinet Miller said she isn’t the one to determine that.

The project is currently on the 23rd step of 38 which will, among other things, determine whether the tenancy makeup of the building is acceptable. It’s a step that could have to be run through several times until the requirements are fulfilled.

The board also hasn’t yet determined what an acceptable level of public engagement and communication will be — it’s one of the steps to be taken in the coming year.

On Friday, Carr and the PCC’s CEO also announced the steps the body would be taking to respond to the auditor’s five recommendations.

“If I look at the reply to our audit and the five recommendations that were brought forward to us, there’s no doubt that there’s room for improvement. And that’s something that we’re committing to here today,” said Goffinet Miller.

Among the actions, the body will develop a public consultation plan, provide regular updates to the public, and assess examples of best practice for sub-lease/tenant agreement approvals to make sure they conform with the master plan.

Carr said the body would start to publicly share some of its documents on its website, like summaries of board meetings and the checklist required for all new developments in the park.

The body also created a step-by-step guide to the review process for developments in the park, which was posted for the public on the PCC’s website on Friday morning.

Legislation which pertains to the PCC will also be reviewed once all of the changes are made to satisfy the auditor’s recommendations.

Good day for the CNIB

“Today is a really great day for CNIB and our clients,” said Christall Beaudry, executive director of CNIB Saskatchewan after hearing the news about the project.

“We’re really excited that this project has been reinstated to move forward. We’ve still got some work ahead of us … but for our clients this is a really important day.”

Beaudry said the CNIB will be talking to its partners in the project in the coming days to figure out what the requirements mean for them and how to move forward.

The organization has already started on the increased public engagement, according to Beaudry. She said it launched cnibinthepark.ca recently and it’ll be doing things like posting more on social media about projects.

The question of whether there will still be office and commercial space in the building is something Beaudry said will have to be discussed with CNIB’s partners.

“(We’ll know more) once we have more information on what some of the best practices are and what we can put forward to the Provincial Capital Commission, but we will be working on a tenancy plan with our partner and putting that forward to the regulator,” said Beaudry.

NDP critical of process restart

According to the NDP’s Nicole Sarauer, the party’s critic on the PCC, the project was flawed from the beginning.

“This is clearly a project that the public isn’t supportive of, that it cannot continue to go forward as is,” she said.

Sarauer said the caveats for the project are good, but if developers are going to be serious, then the project needs to be taken back to the drawing board on the design. She asked what the public would be consulting on and engaging with if the plan is already done.

“Consultation is meaningless if the design has already been finished,” she said.

Sarauer said whatever plan ends up being approved needs to have to the support of the public.

“The public is very loud in their support for maintaining a park that is conducive to the pillars and conducive to what the park was meant to be and has been for the past 100 years,” said Sarauer.

Sarauer said the NDP is hopeful the consultations and engagement will be meaningful.