Yellowknife councillors reviewing an updated draft of a new community plan say it’s “far better than the first one” but still had plenty of questions.
Changes in the latest draft, published in a document package ahead of a Wednesday meeting at City Hall, include scrapping mandatory affordable housing targets, reducing “overly prescriptive” language, and removing some intensification targets.
Mohammad Alam, the city’s manager of planning and environment, said the updated draft is “less prescriptive and more strategic” than a previous proposal, with a greater focus on policy directions “rather than repeating information that already exists in other documents.”
The city describes the community plan as its “highest-level land use policy document” that guides future land decisions in Yellowknife. The proposed new plan sets out the municipality’s vision for growth and development until 2050.
How the new draft differs
The initial draft, which councillors reviewed earlier this spring, required that 10 percent of all new homes in buildings with more than 20 units be set aside as affordable housing.
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The new draft drops that requirement, instead proposing a voluntary, incentivized approach that relies on funding or development incentives to encourage affordable housing. The affordable housing commitment period – the time for which those units must be offered – is reduced from 20 to 10 years.
Compared to the initial draft, the city said the new proposed community plan revises overly prescriptive policies by replacing the words “shall and must” with “should and may.”
The city said implementation of policies that require specific standards, such as buffers and setbacks, would be better addressed in a future update to Yellowknife’s zoning bylaw.
The new draft replaces intensification targets assigned to individual land use designations – including the downtown, central residential and Frame Lake areas – with community-wide housing targets.
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It also better distinguishes between long-term and temporary workforce accommodation, adds archaeological site management, and extends the notice period for a public hearing, among other changes.
Councillors weigh in
Some councillors had said they felt the initial draft of the community plan was too prescriptive in places and some requirements could discourage housing development. Overall, councillors expressed a desire for the plan to be simplified.
On Wednesday, several members of council said they appreciated the work city staff had put into updating the draft to address their feedback.
Areas that still prompted questions included the preservation of natural heritage features, affordable housing, contaminated sites, commercial development, and the sequencing of land development.
Councillor Rob Warburton said he felt the plan could be more ambitious, as it is based on growth projections developed before recent federal promises to invest billions in Arctic defence and infrastructure in the NWT.
“I’ve grown up in a military town, I’ve grown up in oil and gas towns, I know what booms look like,” he said. “I’m excited, but I don’t think we’re quite ready for what is coming.”
Charlsey White, the city’s director of planning and development, said the city “had some inklings and some information” that were shared with the consultant who prepared the growth projections.
White said the high-growth scenario on which the draft plan relies – projecting a need for 2,000 new housing units – includes growth related to proposed federal investments, though she said projections are “usually conservative.”
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Mayor Ben Hendriksen noted that even after it passes, the community plan can be amended if the city finds aspects are not working. He said he was currently focusing on “the good” in the draft.
“I don’t want to get hung up on the few things that I’m maybe a bit more queasy on,” he said.
The updated draft adds a requirement that city staff prepare an annual monitoring report for council that demonstrates progress toward goals in the community plan.
Why is the city updating the plan?
The city has said its current community plan needs to be overhauled as it was “prepared during a time when Yellowknife faced different growth pressures and housing needs.”
The municipality is also required to update its community plan every eight years.
The city said the proposed new YK 2050 plan “represents a significant shift in direction” from the existing plan by introducing housing targets, long-term land supply planning, workforce accommodation policies, and the creation of a new “highway commercial” area between the dump and Old Airport Road.
One major change in the proposed plan is expanding from a focus on intensification and infill in existing neighbourhoods to include greenfield development, chiefly development of land north and west of Frame Lake for housing.
In the updated draft presented on Wednesday, the city said policy language related to Frame Lake area development was revised to “avoid over-commitment and emphasize sustainable housing growth and environmental preservation.”
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Both infill and greenfield development have previously faced opposition in Yellowknife.
Most recently, several residents opposed the city’s plan to rezone part of Burwash Hill from “natural area” to “residential central one,” a plan that subdivides the land to allow for housing development. City councillors passed the proposed changes late last month.
Shortly afterward, 11 residents who said they live in the area asked the NWT Supreme Court to overturn the city’s decision and protect the area from development, as first reported by the CBC. The city has yet to file a response.
The draft community plan needs to pass three readings at council and get the approval of the NWT minister of municipal and community affairs before it can be enacted.
Councillors are expected to hold an initial vote on the draft plan at a meeting on August 26.
On Wednesday, mayor and council discussed going over the draft plan line by line over the next two weeks to address any outstanding questions and concerns, and inform potential amendments to the plan.
A tentative schedule published by the city suggests a public hearing on the draft plan could take place on September 9, followed by council’s second reading of the plan on September 23, and submission to the territorial government by the end of next month.
