IQALUIT - After two years, a final decision has been made: the ramp has to go.

On June 12, the Nunavut Court of Justice decided Corey Dimitruk of Cambridge Bay could not appeal the February 2008 decision by the Development Appeal Board ordering him to take down the ramp on the front side of his house, because he waited too long to apply for the appeal.

Aggiu Dimitruk, 3, left, and Jusipi Dimitruk, one and a half, right, play on the family's ramp, which has been ordered torn down. - photo courtesy of Corey Dimitruk

Dimitruk received a permit from the hamlet to build the ramp in 2007. It took two months of work to complete the ramp.

He was told by hamlet officials two weeks after the ramp's completion that he must tear it down because it violated a zoning bylaw that states the structure needs to be three metres back from the road.

Dimitruk responded the road actually encroached on his property. Eventually the road and a stop sign were moved to their proper boundary after it was discovered they were indeed within Dimitruk's property's limits.

But that's all old news, said Dimitruk, who is the Kitikmeot region's land administrator.

He added he is fully prepared to take down the ramp and has no desire to fight the latest decision.

He does, however, wish the hamlet would think more on the issues of an accessible and pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood.

"I don't have a need for accessibility immediately, so I think the council said, 'OK, well, if he doesn't operate a wheelchair himself personally and nor does anyone in his family, therefore what's the need?'" said Dimitruk.

"The bigger picture, of course, is to say, 'Well shouldn't all houses and all buildings have ramps on them?'"

Dimitruk said he does have a family friend who uses a walker.

"She said, 'There are very few places in the community where I can go where I can actually get to a doorbell' and with our house she could," he said.

He estimated there are only about five houses – out of about 500 -- in Cambridge Bay with ramps.

In addition to accessibility, there is another key reason Dimitruk built the ramp: safety.

With ATVs often coming close to the house because of the previous road placement, Dimitruk was concerned about his children playing at the front of the house.

Communities need "places where people actually have a sense of safety and this ramp, for my family, provides that sense of safety -- every square inch of it," he said.

"When we look out the window we can see the kids on the ramp. We have a real good nice property, but by taking the ramp down we lose a little bit of that value, the non-financial value."

Hamlet representatives did not return calls for comment by press time.

While Dimitruk has made it clear he will co-operate with orders to take the ramp down, he said there is another lesson to be learned here: both the applicant and the planning and lands administrator should "go out and mark and identify the boundaries and establish any setbacks before construction takes place."