Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Mar 12/99) - Vince Sharpe is steadfast in his resolve not to sign a utilidor easement agreement which would grant the town exclusive development rights on a right-of-way along the utilidor system on his property.

The town is set to assume control of the utilidor system Oct. 1, and has sent out utilidor easement agreements for property owners to sign.

The system is currently maintained by the Power Corporation in conjunction with the GNWT and the federal government. Those governments have the legal authority to access private land to maintain public utilities while municipal corporations do not.

Inuvik property owners were therefore not previously required to sign an access agreement.

Sharpe says his situation is different from most Inuvik property owners because the utilidor system goes right through his backyard and on one side of his property.

"It goes right through the middle of my backyard so it cuts my property in half," he says.

"It's almost exactly 55 per cent of my property that I would lose to the utilidor."

Though Sharpe says the town (through the GNWT) has offered to buy the right-of- way, which is approximately seven metres wide, in Sharpe's backyard he says his land is not for sale.

He will take compensation, however.

"If they're offering everybody else a dollar, they can give me $15,000," he says of the nominal payment the town gives property owners.

"I've been paying property taxes on the back part of that property for the past 20 years. I want some of that money back."

Sharpe arrived at the $15,000 figure by dividing the assessed value of his property in half.

Another reason Sharpe says he wants to keep his land is to uphold density requirements in case he wants to add a storey to his home in the future.

"The amount of property in the frontyard wouldn't allow me to do that because I don't have the square footage of yard area to compensate the area of house area that I would want to accommodate," he says.

Meanwhile, town consultant Leslie Huget says Sharpe is the only property owner the town has not reached an agreement with.

"All the town is doing is they're just requiring a right of entry to maintain the utilidor," she says.

Property owners would only be prohibited from development if their building interferes with the development of the utilidor.

"A lot of people talk of sheds, and that's not a big concern."

Huget says the possible solution to Sharpe's concern is that the town enter an agreement that the GNWT continue to maintain that part of the utilidor until the Sharpe property changes hands.