The city won't be doing the work it planned for Black Street this year.

Council has defeated the bylaw that would have seen property owners charged a local improvement fee for the work.

A new water main, water and sewer services and additional fire hydrants would have been put in place to meet city standards. Also planned had been new bases and conduit installed at Second Avenue for more signal lights that are planned to be built for the new development at the former Motorways trucking yard.

The surface work was estimated to cost approximately $830,000, with underground utility improvements at $760,000 and engineering designs for the work at approximately $10,000.

The local improvement charge of $759.20 per front metre of property for non-residential buildings would have brought in $351,700.

When there is a majority of property owners objecting to the charge, the city doesn't go ahead with the work.

While 11 of 21 property owners are in favour of the project, the administrative recommendation which went to council noted they only represent seven of the 15 separate parcels affected.

'The Municipal Act is somewhat unclear in its direction to municipal councils on authority to proceed under objections from affected property owners,' reads the report.

'In identifying who pays, section 268 uses the term parcel' while in identifying who can object, section 269 uses the term benefiting property owner.''

At a public hearing held last month on the improvement charge, Terry Sherman of Home Centre Plus spoke in favour of the fee while Richard Jensen was against it.

Jensen suggested there would be a loss of business for him while the work was underway.

'Our business depends on drive-in traffic,' he told council. His customers aren't able to carry the saddles, hay and feed he sells to the back of their vehicles, he pointed out.

If the city did go ahead with the work, Jensen said, the money for it should come entirely out of property taxes he and others pay the city every year.

Sherman, however, believes businesses and the city should be working together to get the area fixed up. While there are other streets and alley ways that also need to be repaired and cleaned up, Sherman said, it was good to see the city starting some of that work.

'We're willing to step up to the plate,' he said.

Under the territorial Municipal Act, the city will have to wait another year before it can consider a local improvement charge to do work on Black Street.