Yellowknife council advances community plan at final meeting of term

Yellowknife’s mayor and council passed a consequential second reading of the city’s new community plan as they closed out their four-year terms on Wednesday.

In a final meeting before next month’s municipal election, council also passed a transportation plan with one councillor in opposition. Council unanimously approved both a vacant land tax intended to spur development and a major projects and opportunities secretariat to handle promised federal investment.

The community plan came through second reading with several amendments. Two councillors, Rob Warburton and Ryan Fequet, opposed it.

Warburton, who owns a real estate investment company, said he feels the plan “does not meet the moment we are currently in” and will make building housing in Yellowknife more difficult, expensive and time consuming.

“We don’t need to make people do backflips before they start building anything,” he said.

Warburton said the city should be more disciplined about what it includes in its community plan, such as not covering areas already regulated by other levels of government. He noted community plans for Hay River and Inuvik are much shorter.

“Focus on outcomes, not paperwork,” he said.

Fequet echoed Warburton’s concerns, saying he did not feel he could put his name on the plan in its current form.

“I just worry that this is going to cause more headaches and more problems,” he said.

The YK 2050 plan is a high-level document that outlines the city’s vision for development and will guide land decisions in Yellowknife over the next 25 years.

To meet projected housing needs, YK 2050 includes plans for intensification and infill in existing neighbourhoods alongside greenfield development, mainly on land north and west of Frame Lake.

A handful of residents spoke in opposition to the community plan at a public hearing earlier this month, largely raising concerns about development of green spaces and, in one case, intensification.

Councillor Tom McLennan on Wednesday said he shared Warburton and Fequet’s frustrations with the plan and planning process, but felt supporting YK 2050 would be better than voting it down.

Mayor Ben Hendriksen said while he had also hoped for a shorter community plan, it does “move the needle” on things like worker accommodation and development near Frame Lake. He added that updates to the city’s zoning bylaw will still be needed to implement the plan.

Clearing second reading was an important step for the plan, which will now be sent to the territorial minister of municipal and community affairs for approval before returning to a future city council for a third and final reading.

‘The first being first and the last being last’

At Wednesday’s meeting, councillors further unanimously passed a bylaw prohibiting camping on municipal land without council approval. The bylaw came from previous council discussions on homeless encampments in the city.

Ahead of the vote, Yellowknife resident and Manitoba Métis Federation citizen Dawn McGinnis spoke against the legislation.

She said she is concerned about people the bylaw could impact, such as 26 Housing First clients being evicted from apartments in the city or Indigenous people experiencing homelessness who choose to camp. She also shared her and her family’s own history of displacement.

McGinnis contrasted this with a “wealthy businessman” in her neighbourhood who she alleged has violated several land bylaws. She said to date, they had received only warnings.

“I’m seeing the first being first and the last being last,” she said.

Fequet said the bylaw is not “against anyone in particular” but intended to “clarify roles and responsibilities and actually work towards some action.” He added only a small percentage of land within Yellowknife is under the municipality’s control.

During a previous discussion on the bylaw at City Hall, municipal staff said they were tracking six encampments on municipal land with a total of 13 tents.

Under territorial regulations, camping is permitted on commissioner’s land for up to 100 days. Previous city bylaws only prohibited “temporary abodes” in parks.

City manager Stephen Van Dine said on Wednesday there had been “some level of engagement” with organizations supporting underhoused people and there had not been strong opposition to the bylaw.

“Before we contemplate any enforcement step, we absolutely want to make sure that all of the available information, including shelter space, is properly understood and accurate,” he said.