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Simon City council is expected to vote on plans to demolish two buildings on its 50 Street properties over the next few weeks. Jeff Humble, director of planning and development, gave a presentation to council on plans for developing the 50 Avenue and 50 Street area of the downtown during Monday's municipal services committee meeting. - Whitehouse/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Council is expected to vote within the next month on whether to demolish the city-owned properties on 50 Street as part of the city's long-term revitalization efforts in the downtown core.

Based on more than a decade of research and consultation, on Monday planning and development director Jeff Humble laid out the department's vision for revitalizing the Franklin Avenue and 50 Street area of downtown. He placed emphasis on possibly demolishing the Corner Mart and Instaloans buildings on 50 Street and turning the space into a temporary parking lot.

Humble also touched on acquiring more land along 50 Street, putting together a re-development task force and beginning streetscaping design plans for "Range Street" in 2014, which are all to be further discussed after the demolition decision is made.

"Because this is the first time for council to really talk about the downtown core, it was an opportunity to get a bit of background and history on the discussions - research and consultations that have taken place to date and to get a sense of where council wants to go next," said Mayor Mark Heyck.

The revitalization presentation follows some challenges in 2012 when the city suffered a 2,200-litre diesel leak from the Instaloans' fuel tank last spring. Later in the fall, Instaloans employees were evacuated and relocated to the neighbouring Cash Store due to mice and mildew problems.

By knocking the buildings down for an estimated $200,000, which would include environmental site assessment and the oil spill cleanup to date, the temporary parking lot could provide approximately 40 spaces until another plan is created, Humble said. In the meantime, some revenue can be generated to offset the demolition costs and provide needed parking, he said.

Councillor Phil Moon Son said the presentation lacked clarity, such as how the city will provide parking access, how much will be charged, how long it will be in place, and what the ongoing costs will be to maintain the lot. He thinks council will defeat the motion.

"I think administration somehow got the idea from us that they are going to move forward with demolition planning," he said. "If that was to happen, I don't think it is going to pass. At the end of the day, it might actually be a tie-breaker, but there is definitely not the majority that supports it."

Moon Son is wary about development on 50 Street overall and thinks planning on the project has been done "poorly" from the outset.

Nevertheless, he remains open to demolition if there is more information provided and thinks a proposal by Coun. Niels Konge to quickly sell the property to a private developer is worth considering.

Coun. Dan Wong predicted council would vote in favour of demolition and sees the city's vision as moving towards something Yellowknifers can actually be proud of. He expects details on operations of a parking lot at the upcoming vote.

"It looked like the majority or close to a majority opinion that the buildings were to be demolished," he said, adding that the option of leaving boarded up buildings in the downtown core would invite more problems. "It is not safe to leave a building there intact (due to the) liability of people getting injured or because it is a fire hazard."

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne said he understands there are concerns about how the land is going to be used, but added the city's intent is not to hold land long term or to become a landlord.

With the parking lot, he sees it as a temporary measure to generate some revenue.

"We did not buy the property for the purposes of owning the property," Vanthuyne said. "We bought the property for the purposes of land assembly for long-term revitalization in the downtown core."

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