SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A question over early morning coffee at the Wildcat Cafe about who piloted the first floatplane to land in Yellowknife Bay momentarily stumps Gordon Piro.

It definitely wasn't Wop May, says Piro, but was it Punch Dickins, or Stan McMillan? Both were here in 1929. Although Dickins landed at Walsh Lake in March, an exacting quizmaster would award the point for McMillan, who set down a Fairchild 71 at Burwash Point in July.

What's certain is neither pilot had to ask permission to use a dock, a question on the minds of recreational aviators, whether they are flying tourists or resident Yellowknifers, like Piro, who represents the NWT Floatplane Association on a city hall committee exploring the possibility of establishing a harbour commission to oversee Yellowknife Bay.

Piro keeps his plane at the Yellowknife Airport. Hal Logsdon, president of the association, has a spot on a dock in Back Bay, attached to one of several lots where the city's moribund waterfront plan proposes a public boardwalk. The floatplane association has members on both sides of that hot button issue, and several other questions a commission would be asked to manage.

Paul Laserich of Adlair Aviation can list several points of friction: marker buoys placed in Back Bay to mark a course for sailboats, kayakers and sailors who navigate as though unaware that Back Bay and East Bay are licensed aerodromes, and when taking off or landing, a pilot must have the wind in his face.

Add power boaters, who break the six-knot speed limit and send waves rolling, endangering anyone or anything under the wing of a suddenly heaving plane moored to the dock, to the list of annoyances. A harbour commission with an enforcement arm might reach out and slow the traffic.

Logsdon struck a more conciliatory note. Boaters and floatplanes have a history of sharing Yellowknife Bay and there is no reason not to continue. There are no safety issues, he said - some near misses, but in the 35 years he has been in Yellowknife, just one fatality.

"A floatplane landed fairly late in the evening and clipped the mast of a sailboat that was crossing from the government dock to Jolliffe Island without running lights. The skipper fell overboard and drowned, he said. "That incident prompted a beacon to be placed on Pilot's Monument."

Floatplanes are central to the city's history. Photographs of earlier eras show a waterfront shared by aircraft, fishing boats and small runabouts. The picture has changed greatly, even in the past decade. Everybody wants to be on the water and more craft of every type navigate between islands, houseboats, and aerodromes.

"We've always believed the public access to the waterfront means access for a broad range of users, not just float planes, and you don't have to limit any particular stretch of shoreline to a single use," said Logsdon.

"Unfortunately the city decision on this has been for exclusive use. As a result, we have docks that the city owns that are exclusively for kayaks and canoes. Boaters can't use them, float planes can't use them."

There are several potential mooring spots for aircraft on Back Bay, Logsdon said, and pointed to space that was leased by Arctic Air, adjacent to the Great Slave Yacht Club. "It hasn't been used for five years. We've offered to develop and operate it in partnership with the city, but evidently they'd rather have it vacant."

The city also owns several waterfront lots below Otto Drive, between Plummer's Lodge float base and a small park on Otto Drive. Residents of Otto Drive have laid down wooden walkways across the willow marsh to private docks on Back Bay.

"We think the city could develop that area and not deprive the local users of their space, but provide more for travelling planes," Logsdon said. "At the same time they could build a boardwalk so the public could enjoy the waterfront, and launch canoes and kayaks. There is space for a number of multiple users."

Aircraft are docked there now, and there have been no incidents of vandalism, he said. "We're more apprehensive about Kam Lake, because it's isolated and off the beaten track. In Back Bay, there are people around and people are less likely to vandalize a boat or an airplane if they are in full view.

"We don't want to cordon off the area and keep the public out; we want to continue to have public access to the lake. We would simply put a gate on the dock, then people could access the water but not the dock. You see that system in marinas everywhere but Yellowknife," he said.

A harbour commission has the potential to improve management of waterfront land, said Logsdon, "The city has done a horrible job. They've alienated so much of it, by ringing it with private property, as they've done at Kam Lake, or insisting on segregating users.

"The city has leasehold tenure to all of the waterfront on Kam Lake, but there are only a couple of spots where you can get to the water because all of the land has been sold off. One is through the city garage property, and they don't want us there, and the other was an ultra-light base. It's not ideal, but it's our only choice - if it becomes available."

"We don't see Kam Lake as a substitute for float facilities on Back Bay or East Bay. We particularly would like to have additional moorage on Back Bay for visiting pilots," he said. "It's close to amenities, to downtown, close to bed and breakfasts - it's where visitors want to be."

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