Mike Bryant & Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 20/01) - Some businesses are not pleased with a crackdown on their free use of public property, while the city cites safety as the reason for tightening up the rules.
For years Yellowknife Chrysler, Fountain Tire and Westown Tire have added to their parking and display space by encroaching onto city-owned buffers between the road and their lots.
"In the early years of the Chrysler dealership somebody would come by and remind them their vehicles were creeping out onto the roadway. They would move them back and life would go on, but that hasn't happened in a while," says Mayor Gordon Van Tighem.
Ownership of a tire shop where Fountain Tire now sits on Old Airport Road, and at Yellowknife Chrysler next door, has changed hands over the past two years.
Caught off-guard, new Chrysler dealer Bob Aaltonen and Fountain Tire's Rod Lowen are critical of "heavy-handed" notices from bylaw officers issued late Friday afternoon. They contained a warning to be off city property by midnight that Sunday.
Both new owners warn back that the city is opening a can of worms, suggesting that many other businesses also cross the line. They're willing to pay to use the city property.
Van Tighem disagrees that large numbers of businesses are affected, and adds the city must be vigilant because Old Airport Road "is a main traffic artery. You don't want it to shrink."
The city's tactics in dealing with the Old Airport Road businesses became a hot topic at last Monday's priorities, policies, and budget committee meeting.
Coun. Alan Woytiuk accuses the city of acting arbitrarily and without justification in ordering the Chrysler dealership to remove the vehicles.
He says they ought to consider that there have been no previous incidents involving the lot since the company and its predecessor began using it five years ago.
Coun. Robert Hawkins says the city should lease "a few extra feet" to the businesses and mark off boundaries with painted lines so the could continue parking vehicles there, but the idea was rejected by several other councillors.
Some cite safety and liability issues, while others worry that allowing the companies to lease the lands would make it difficult for the city to reacquire them in the future if needed.
"Winter comes, lines disappear, the liability stays," says Coun. Blake Lyons.
Aaltonen says he bought the dealership "believing that my business and the employment it creates for 25 employees would be welcomed in the North. My outlook has changed."
He had to remove a row of 12 new cars to the back of the lot. "Every day I struggle with our unfavourable climate, remote geography, higher costs and difficulty attracting staff. Now my city government tells me to move the display I rely on to generate my business off their property, which they will never use."
Van Tighem says relaxing the rules would be unfair to other businesses which bought enough land in the first place.
In taking action, the city is responding to complaints that both business owners suspect are from competitors. Van Tighem denies that, saying that ordinary drivers have complained about entering traffic without being able to properly see what's coming.
Most streets have sidewalks which clearly spell out boundaries, but that's not the case on Old Airport Road where storefront parking lots blend in with the road. The property line is usually where the telephone poles are.
Westown Tire owner Ken Pich, who also received a warning, has a more resigned approach. "I know I'm at fault. Everybody's got to abide by the rules," he says.
He often does tire repairs on big trucks while they're parked on Borden Drive because there's no place for them to pull in. "If I cease doing that I won't have any business."
Pich is working on an expansion to the tire shop that would end his troubles with the city. He hopes to be allowed to keep working on the street until the expansion is finished.
