SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A council meeting Monday night brought the much debated issue of developing Tin Can Hill to an end, at least for now, as the bylaw removing references in the 2004 General Plan for its "immediate future development," passed third reading.

The reading was moved by city councillor Bob Brooks and seconded by the bylaw's champion, Coun. Mark Heyck.

Coun. David Wind voted against the bylaw, and the adoption of the amending bylaw was decidedly quick and low key compared to the months of debate leading up to this point.

Wind said a major chunk of the 2004 General Plan has now been scrapped despite it being developed after careful consultation with the community and planning professionals.

"It seems to me just terribly wrong to take a document like that, which was put together and approved, and to, on an ad hoc basis by council, take a major piece out of that plan so that it's no longer coherent or makes any sense," said Wind.

He said the revision of the General Plan, set for next year, would have been a more appropriate time to make changes.

Bicycle parking mandatory

A bylaw requiring all new developments to include bicycle parking facilities passed its third reading on Monday night.

With the exception of single detached dwellings, all new developments must now adhere to the various bylaw requirements.

For example, churches must have one bicycle rack per 50 members and hospitals must have one rack for every 500 square metres.

Coun. David Wind was the sole voice voting against the bylaw.

"We've been getting considerable push back as councillors on the changes that had been made to the zoning bylaw, concerning restrictions that were being imposed in developing properties," he said.

"We don't want to get to the stage where the development bylaw is a discouragement to development. We want to encourage orderly development."

Builder: bylaw too restrictive

Development was once again the big issue at Monday's council meeting when Niels Konge, of Konge Construction, said the city's zoning bylaw was, "completely broken."

He said the city's bylaw, which stipulates what materials can be used, the size, the location and appearance of a building, adds tens of thousands of dollars to people's building projects and in particular he pointed to the grading and building height requirements.

"The one house that my company is currently building will need seven feet of filler to meet zoning requirements," he said.

Konge said that is because the bedrock at the site is about seven feet below the road surface and around 75 truckloads of filler will need to be brought to the site - most of which will be applied to the area with wheel barrows and shovels.

He challenged councillors to take a tour of the building site to understand better the difficulties he faces, adding the bylaw gives off the wrong impression to developers.

"The bylaws gives businesses and homeowners the feeling that city hall is closed for development," he said.