SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Consultants must leave no interest group uncanvassed in preparing a plan and a governing authority for Yellowknife Bay, says the city's committee on the waterfront.

Everyone from commercial fishermen and property owners, to Old Town businesses, government departments and houseboaters will get time to bend the ears of consultants.

The harbour planning committee agreed at a meeting Friday to issue a request for proposals from consultants across Canada. The selection will be made in September and a report is due by June 15, 2011.

The completed consultant's report will cover land use, zoning, transportation, environmental protection, development and tourism, user fees, permitting and enforcement. It is the first step in creating an overseeing authority for the bay between Dettah and the Yellowknife River.

The $400,000 cost of the process and report will be paid for by the city and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

The committee also recommended the city act on an invitation from Fisheries and Oceans to take control of the government dock in Old Town and an adjacent waterfront lot used by the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the RCMP.

Terms of reference for the consultant describe the city's historic economic, residential and transport centre as a "major waterway for potential economic development, which has no comprehensive regulations or operational structure."

The completed document "must result in the development and control of water lots for the purpose of increasing commercial/residential development while enhancing tourism potential and protecting environmentally sensitive areas."

Everyone who is interested will get more than one chance to share their opinions during focus group sessions and public meetings. The consultant will be required to meet three times with the harbour planning committee which will lead the process.

As the project nears completion, the consultants will deliver a draft of the report to council's municipal services committee and a public forum and then update the final document to reflect comments, ideas and concerns.

The terms of reference prepared by the city's planning and lands department offered a shopping list of interest groups that appeared comprehensive, but somehow overlooked Old Town tourism operators and the Yellowknives Dene.

Ndilo chief Ted Tsetta thought the Elders Senate of the Yellowknives Dene should also be added to the list of 'must-consult' stakeholders.

"No one has witnessed more than the elders, over 80 years since Yellowknife started," Tsetta said. "The elders know where garbage has been dumped, they know all of our burial sites. I want to make sure that they are consulted."

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