REGINA - The fences set up in front of Regina City Hall will be removed on Thursday.
The fences had been up since late July, when a homeless encampment was cleared from the lawn at Regina City Hall. It was previously indicated by the city that the fences would likely stay until next spring, but plans have changed.
Regina City Manager Niki Anderson issued this statement Thursday:
"The fences on the City Hall Courtyard will be removed at approximately 8 a.m. Thursday morning. The green spaces on the City Hall Courtyard are safe and clean. The fences have allowed the grass to recover, and have significantly reduced the future cost of landscape repair.
"Moving forward, the City will enforce its Parks & Open Space Bylaw in the Courtyard. The parks bylaw prohibits the establishment of a camp. As with any bylaw, the City’s goal is voluntary compliance."
When the fence was put up the city expressed concerns about potential biohazards on the lawn, and the indication had been that remediation of the lawn area would cost $60,000. However, at a news conference earlier this month at City Hall, City Manager Anderson indicated there were no biohazards.
Mayor Sandra Masters was asked Wednesday morning about concerns from residents about the number of fences that had gone up around buildings in the city, including at the Knox church.
"Clearly, it's deeply unfortunate," said Masters. "I suspect that Knox's decision to put a fence up to protect this building in this parish was a difficult one. But at the end of the day, those assets that are owned need to be protected, and we've got some complex and complicated issues on the street as does every city frankly in North America right now. And so I think for preservation of life and property, the stopgap measure's in place until we find solutions to some of the on street problems that we're having."
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