Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 14/04) - If all goes well with the city's 2004 general plan, the future of Yellowknife will be looking up, not outward, says one city councillor.

Blake Lyons said the top priority is to ensure the downtown core stays vital and urban sprawl stays to a minimum.

The city's draft general plan -- completed by Terriplan Consultants -- calls for the city to aim to keep 10 per cent of its population downtown. It reported that taxation dollars there dropped from $5.1 million in 1996 to $4.8 million three years later.

That's why Lyons said it's important the city concentrates on building bigger and taller buildings in the future as opposed to merely seeking out new land to develop.

"That's crucial," said Lyons. "It helps cut costs, you get maximum use of your infrastructure, and you have buildings going up rather than across."

The plan identifies some areas for potential growth, however, including Tin Can Hill and Yellowknife Bay South past Con Mine, something that concerns Coun. Mark Heyck.

"Some of the residential development that it proposes might be kind of contentious," said Heyck.

"We're quickly losing green spaces all over the place. I think we have to preserve some of that."

Some of the plan proposals include: a four-diamond softball park at the CBC tower site at the end of Kam Lake Road; a park on Joliffe Island; constructing an access route from Deh Cho Boulevard to the airport; and identifying a new site for the Aurora College campus.

The city is holding an open house for the public next week -- April 21 -- to go over the plan. It will offer one more chance for residents to have their say before council goes off to deliberate on a final plan.

Copies of the draft plan are currently available at City Hall or on the city's Web site.

Growth is manageable

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said, overall, the city has plenty of room to manoeuvre. The plan predicts it will be another 15 years before the city surpasses 24,000 in population.

"The growth rate that's projected is totally manageable," said Van Tighem.

"The idea that we're probably okay with regards to residential land for the next 5-10 years is a little bit comforting."