Yellowknife (Jan 19/07) - The City of Yellowknife is proposing the redesign of earlier bylaws within the Niven Lake development plan to bring lower priced houses into the area.

City administration asked council to consider modifying four bylaws from earlier phases of the Niven Lake subdivision in order to bring in more single-detached homes, parks and walking trails for the upcoming phase 7 development of the Niven Lake subdivision.

At the same time, administration wants to rezone the area to R7 zoning.

"This means it needs to be residential, and it needs to be single-family housing," said Jeffrey Humble, director of planning and development for the City of Yellowknife, at a meeting held Tuesday morning at City Hall.

The changes to the four bylaws would proceed only if council decides to change the areas in phase 7 to R7.

Greg Kehoe, director of the department of works and engineering for the city, said that the plan for Niven Lake's newest phase is to have only residential, park and open spaces in the area.

The amendments, if passed by council, will allow phase 7 and 8 to have the highest number of single-detached homes so far in the developed areas of Niven Lake.

"I would be more in support of this recommendation if it had the option for duplexes..." said Coun. Shelagh Montgomery.

"Is it not possible to have some mix of low-density areas, by having some medium density there also," asked Coun. Bob Brooks."

Kehoe said the plan for phase 7 is to have the city as the major developer of the area, and council must decide on points such as density levels before voting on the motion at the Jan. 22 council meeting at City Hall.

Humble noted that the phase 7 plan is still in its infancy.

"We haven't finalized the marketing plan," he said.

"We may look at a lottery of some type," he added, referring to how lots may be made available for purchase.

The City of Yellowknife held a public session on Oct. 3, 2006, to determine how Yellowknifers would like the city to proceed in developing the remainder of Niven Lake.

Citizens supported control of design and housing types through zoning, an integrated parks and trail system, streets with boulevards and sidewalks on both sides of the road and a mixed density of housing, according to the city.

The city is proposing all these elements within the phase 7 development plan.

The city has come up against many obstacles since it first decided to go forward with the Niven Lake development project in 1995.

In 1998 development partners with the city raised concerns about slow sales of lots in Niven Lake. Then in 2000 the city bought out its partners, but had to borrow $3.1 million from the territorial government to do so.

The original concept for Niven Lake was to have higher-end, stick-built houses in the area. However, due to a housing boom in 2000 and lack of area to develop - due in part to the Dene land withdrawal agreement - the city allowed lower-cost homes to be built.

This about-face upset some residents who had bought expensive houses in the first two phases of project, because, they argued, lower cost houses would lower the value of their homes.

In 2003, a Niven resident won a court decision to stop development of a cul-de-sac and repositioning of a park that was scheduled to be built within phase 6.

The city was ordered by the NWT Supreme Court to pay the resident $7,000 for court costs.