Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 30/98) - Residents of Nunavut's capital could be walking on sidewalks and driving on paved roads as early as next summer.

So says Ottawa consultant John Wright of Corush Sunderland & Wright, who was hired by the municipality to find out what Iqaluit residents wanted when it came to redeveloping the downtown core.

"We asked people what their concerns were and we tried to come up with physical responses," said Wright, referring to the whole process that began in September of 1997 when community members were asked to identify and prioritize their needs.

Through a series of community meetings and questionnaires, Wright and his co-consultants formed a 30-year plan for the development of the area and, two weeks ago, he presented the finished product and gave residents one last chance to make comments.

"Number one is safety...people, cars and snowmobiles all trying to use the road," said Wright.

To address those concerns, he recommended that sidewalks be built for the downtown and Ring Road areas, separate snowmobile trails be developed and a separate access road run behind the arena to divert traffic from the four-way stop by the Nunavut legislative assembly.

Wright has also developed spots to parallel park on the main street and said he hoped to use planter boxes or boulders to organize and make other parking lots more efficient and safe.

Town council member Matt Spence noted that people generally seemed pleased with the new look and said he hoped the implementation of the plans would get under way during the upcoming summer.

"As a local politician, I'd be extremely unhappy if we couldn't start some of this planning. Some of this is two years behind...and we're playing catch up."

Spence said the next step in the process was to take the final report of the secondary development plan to the next council meeting in December. City officials will have to vote on the recommendations and then make the appropriate zoning changes and budget decisions.

Spence said the only possible glitch was getting the five-year capital plan approved that would provide the $2 million to complete the paving and sidewalk projects.

"The GNWT legislative assembly has a five-year plan that it passed, but the issue is whether or not the Nunavut government will want to allocate the money according to the GNWT plan," said Spence.

The matter is set to be discussed further at the next council meeting on Dec. 8.