Arbutus wins appeal to proceed with Saskatoon apartment complex construction

The City and a Vancouver-based developer are going back to the negotiating table after the developer successfully appealed a decision by council regarding a proposed apartment complex in Rosewood.

In a 28-page appeals decision posted to the city's website, the development appeals board granted an appeal from Arbutus Properties over a holding symbol on a parcel of land at the southeast edge of the city.

The holding symbol prevented Arbutus from proceeding with a 244-unit apartment complex until the lot is serviced with roughly $ 7 million worth of sewer infrastructure, including a lift station, as part of an agreement to build the project.

City council previously denied Arbutus' request to lift the hold on Nov. 2, 2022, before appealing once again at the board hearing on Dec. 8, 2022.

In its decision, the four-member board granted the appeal based on three specifications: the appeal would not "injuriously affect the neighbouring properties," it would not compromise, defeat or be offensive to existing zoning bylaws, and the appeal would not give any special privileges to neighbouring properties in the same zoning district.

The city now has 30 days to remove the hold, and Arbutus has seven days following the removal to pay roughly $2 million in outstanding fees and levies.

Arbutus and the city denied an interview request from CTV News, but provided statements affirming the two parties' willingness to "move forward."

"The City and Arbutus are working toward a mutually agreeable resolution with respect to development in the Rosewood area," a statement from the city solicitor's office read.

"The decision of the development appeals board will not impact the ongoing discussions, which will continue in an effort to move the work forward."

Murray Totland, Arbutus' director of planning, mimicked the city's statement and said he looks forward to the project proceeding.

"Arbutus and the City have been in discussions and are working toward a mutually agreeable resolution with respect to development in the Rosewood area. We hope to be able to say more on this in the near future as we finalize this work," he said.

The appeal not only puts Arbutus and the city back at the negotiating table, but it also signals an end to a sometimes heated dispute over the piece of land. .

A key component of the negotiations centres around Arbutus needing to start construction as soon as possible. Arbutus needs the proper permits from the city showing it has started construction because there's significant funding from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) at stake since 20 per cent of the 244-unit building is slated for affordable housing.

The original deadline to submit documents with permits to CMHC was November 30th, but documents tabled during the appeal hearing showed CMHC extended the deadline a few months longer.

At the November 2nd council meeting, Arbutus CEO Jeff Drexel said roughly $5 million was tied to the holding symbol being removed.

However, the city did not want to grant Arbutus special permission or bend bylaws to allow work on an unserviced lot, since the original agreement in place stated Arbutus was responsible for building a lift station and other temporary infrastructure to accommodate the growing area.

Nor did the city feel it was responsible for any of Arbutus' business decisions.

"We have tried to accommodate as much as we can. We're now at a point where we can no longer accommodate. We need obligations to be met to move forward," Jodi Manastyrski, a City of Saskatoon solicitor, said after the appeal board.

Arbutus argued roughly 80 per cent of the overall lift station infrastructure construction was completed. An inspection two days before the appeal showed roughly 10 to 15 per cent of the lift station itself was constructed.

Arbutus maintained it had no desire to alter from existing timelines of getting the lift station complete in the next four months since it had invested roughly $5.5 million already.

Arbutus has said it is willing to obtain a letter of credit for $2.047 million to pay down money owed to the city and move forward with construction.