City sets out environment, transport aspects of draft community plan

The City of Yellowknife has laid out how it plans to protect the environment and optimize the use of municipal infrastructure as Yellowknife grows.

Mohammad Alam, the city’s manager of planning and environment, gave a presentation to city councillors on Wednesday afternoon outlining new policies proposed as part of a comprehensive update of Yellowknife’s community plan.

They included environmental, climate action, transportation and municipal infrastructure policies that could shape development in future years.

Alam explained the policies aim to protect natural heritage while promoting compatible land use and ensuring development is done in a climate-responsive manner.

Among proposed policy requirements are buffers between new development and woodlands, environmental impact studies for development within 30 metres of woodlands and wetlands, protection of wildlife habitat, fuel breaks, firesmart policies and dark sky policies.

The municipality is proposing transportation policy updates that would support new and upgraded active transportation infrastructure, traffic calming, and transit-supportive development in certain areas of Yellowknife.

Alam noted the city is still developing a transportation plan, which it expects to present to council in the coming weeks.

Other policies set out on Wednesday include restricting new commercial and residential development to areas with existing or planned piped water and sewer services, save for developments that support worker accommodation, industrial and light industrial uses, commercial operations and critical services.

New development would be required to minimize runoff, while multi-unit residential buildings and businesses that produce organic waste would be obliged to provide on-site compost collection.

Councillors weigh in

City councillors shared their thoughts and questions about the proposed policy updates on Wednesday.

Deputy mayor Rob Warburton said he felt proposed policies related to development near contaminated sites were redundant as contaminated sites are “extensively covered by higher levels of government.”

City manager Stephen Van Dine and Charlsey White, Yellowknife’s planning director, said the city was responding to public interest but would review the proposals in question.

Warburton also raised concerns about the city’s plans to limit new residential development in areas not on piped water services.

“We’re very land constrained and we can’t really afford to push water and sewer to a lot of parts of the city,” he said.

“This is a very, very big policy thing to bake into a community plan, because we’re essentially saying hundreds of acres of our city are not available for housing.”

Van Dine said encouraging development that can access piped services supports efficiency and sustainability as well as safety.

“When the city finds itself in a position to extend growth in areas that are not supported by piped water and sewer, it has to do so with its eyes wide open and with the ability to make sure that we’re able to support it from a fire and emergency services point of view,” he said.

White added that, while an “unpopular opinion,” the property tax the city collects from homes on trucked or private services does not cover the cost of those services.

“What we are proposing to do is connect sewer and water the most efficient way that we can,” she said, adding the cost of supplying water for fire protection to areas outside piped services is “enormous.”

“It’s the cost of current taxpayers, cost to the future owners, it’s the cost of the development and ultimately the cost to the city. Sewer, water is just more cost-effective on pipe.”

Last year, city councillors voted against changing how much residents pay for trucked water services relative to piped services to address deficits. A review of the city’s existing rate structure projected residents would overpay for the cost of piped services and underpay for trucked services.

Warburton and Mayor Ben Hendriksen both voiced concerns about adding potential barriers to development, such as mandating development permits near woodlands and wetlands, and a lack of clarity about the potential implications for developers.

White said definitions and parameters for things like woodlands and wetlands, as well as requirements for different kinds of development, will be outlined in the draft community plan.

Van Dine said overall, councillors seemed to desire a simplicity principle to ensure “all the little bits and pieces don’t add up to something that was maybe potentially unintended.”

City to release full draft May 13

The city has been working on updating a community plan that was last overhauled in 2020.

The municipality refers to the document as a “roadmap” that will guide development to 2050 while considering sustainability, the environment, and socio-economic and cultural factors.

So far, city staff have released a proposal to build 1,000 new housing units north and west of Frame Lake, plus a new housing policy. Those proposals were presented to council last week. All of the proposed changes to the current community plan are being reviewed by councillors.

City staff are expected to present a full draft of the updated community plan to councillors on May 13.

A public hearing on the updated plan is expected to take place sometime in June and the city is hoping to adopt a final plan in July.