Construction students at Peacock Collegiate want to support a project that makes it easier for people with mobility challenges to access businesses but need the city to handle the legal issues first.
Specifically, the school needs city hall to provide them with a legal waiver to review before they start swinging hammers and using saws.
To facilitate that request, the special needs advisory committee (SNAC) submitted a recommendation to city council that the city solicitor assist the committee and its partners in developing a waiver of liability for the ramp project before Nov. 18.
City council received that recommendation during its Oct. 24 regular meeting and unanimously approved it.
Coun. Jamey Logan, council rep on the committee, explained that some downtown stores have plywood ramps in front of their doors if there are one or more steps leading into their business. SNAC provided ramps to those places at the request of the business owners, who lay out and remove the structures daily.
The committee started discussions about starting the ramp project in the fall of 2019, intending to provide downtown businesses with wheelchair-accessible ramps that weren’t already accessible, a council report explained.
Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s architectural technologies department agreed to take on the project in January 2020, but from May 2020 to December 2021, the committee put the project on hold because of the pandemic.
This past September, Peacock Collegiate expressed interest in supporting the project.
Instead of reinventing the wheel with legal waivers, the committee is taking what it learned in the past from previous partners and having the city solicitor review an older waiver form, said Logan.
Store owners would then sign the document, while the committee would be taken off the hook for liability and responsibility if there was an accident.
Committee name change
Council also unanimously approved a motion from the committee to direct the city clerk to review the special needs advisory committee bylaw and update the name and language of the bylaw. This update would focus on improving accessibility and inclusion for all residents, including those with disabilities.
The city clerk will then present the proposed changes to the committee for input before the group forwards the changes to city council for official approval.
“It’s a fairly dated bylaw. Some of the language is almost offensive,” said Logan. “And it excludes people from around the city who could lean on the bylaw.”
Logan did not give examples of the “offensive” language in the bylaw. Meanwhile, a review of the document does not turn up anything that appears offensive or derogatory.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Nov. 14.
