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A city official says the fence blocking off the green space at Regina city hall will remain for the time being.
“We’ve tried to make sure that it’s fenced off in a way where residents can still easily enter the building. There’s a picnic tables and fountains still there, but I do not have a date in which the fencing will be removed,” city manager Niki Anderson said on Wednesday.
The silver barricades and no trespassing signs have been in place for nearly three weeks.
They were erected after members of the Regina Police Service cleared out a homeless encampment that had been operating in front of city hall for nearly six weeks.
The fencing does allow for residents to enter city hall, but currently stops anyone from accessing the grassy areas in front of Regina’s seat of government. Anderson says the fences will remain as a result of safety concerns.
“Frankly, it was put up during the decommissioning [of the camp] when we were having the five fires in a short period of time,” she told media Wednesday.
At the end of July, Regina Fire and Protective Services Chief Layne Jackson said fires posed an “imminent risk” to people at the encampment, and as a result he invoked Saskatchewan’s Fire Safety Act to clear the camp.
It’s been three days since the homeless encampment at Regina city hall was dismantled due to what the city and the fire marshall called unsafe conditions. Now, some people who lived there are back to where they started on the street.
The encampment — which at various times housed between 30 and 76 people — was established in mid June.
Elisa Tuckanow, a 27-year-old mother of four, died from a suspected overdose at the encampment a week before the encampment was cleared by police.
Anderson says the city’s parks budget is also tapped out for the year.
With no funding left, the city may have to wait until next year to carry out repairs on the damaged property at city hall.
Specifics on the damages were not provided, but Anderson said some of the repairs and cleanup was estimated at $60,000.
When pushed on why the city would not use contingency funds to help cover the costs, Anderson said it’s not just about the money, but about prioritizing work that the city has already committed to doing across Regina.
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