The city-owned 50/50 lot downtown was full of parked vehicles on Friday. The city has not said whether they are parked illegally. The city is in the midst of installing 328 new parking meters downtown, in part, to help pay for this very lot where people are parking for free. Coun. Niels Konge called it a "free-for-all." - Cody Punter/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It appears as though Yellowknife motorists have figured out there is free parking to be had at two city-owned lots on 50 Street.

The revelation comes while the city is in the midst of installing 328 parking meters downtown with the goal of using money earned from the meters to pay for the purchase of one of the lots - the $1.45 million 50/50 lot, which city council voted to buy last September. Mayor Mark Heyck had to break a tie to secure the purchase.

Dozens of vehicles have been seen parked in the 50/50 lot at Franklin Avenue and 50 Street beside the Centre Square Mall over the past several days, as well as another city-owned lot between the Raven Pub and the Gold Range. There were 18 vehicles parked in the 50/50 lot yesterday that were not in front of the reserved spots for mall businesses.

A further 11 vehicles were parked in the lot between the Raven Pub and the Gold Range Bistro. The lot is actually three properties the city purchased in 2012 for $975,000. The buildings on them, which included Corner Mart and the Instaloans cash store, were demolished a year later and have remained vacant ever since.

Coun. Niels Konge said the city's purchase of the two lots has been handled poorly.

"There still is no plan for those lots. If we don't want people parking there we should at least have no parking signs," Konge said.

"I don't feel as a councillor that we need to tell administration everything they need to do. They need to start thinking for themselves a bit too."

Konge is not surprised that people have figured out that they can park there for free.

"People are smart. If you can find free parking and save some money, good for them," Konge said. "But administration, they are supposed to be leaders, they should have figured it out before it happened. If administration doesn't know what they are supposed to do with it, then they should be asking council, otherwise we're going to get this (parking) free-for-all."

City councillors said in late March that a decision on how to use that space won't be rushed just to see it filled before the fall municipal election. At that time, city administration declined to comment on any current planning for the lot, although councillors confirmed consultants have been meeting with council and reaching out to businesses in the area to discuss options.

"This is important but I have other things that I am working on. On the 50th and 50th I made it very clear that I didn't support (the purchase of it)," Konge said. "I'm certainly looking closely at it and what comes forward to council. But lets let the people who thought they should support this deal with the issues. They wanted the land, so now deal with it."

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne, who was one of four city councillors to support the purchase of the 50/50 lot, said he wasn't aware of the parking situation until Yellowknifer brought it to his attention.

"If a complaint comes, then naturally municipal enforcement would take steps on addressing it," said Vanthuyne. "If we don't have it appropriately marked then to some degree that is our fault and it is no wonder people are randomly parking there. If the surfaces are to be used as temporary parking until longer term plans are initiated, then we should have it appropriately marked if not metered."

The city's parking meter installation began last year and is to be finished next year. Some parking meters - which cost the city $1,000 each to purchase - went in ahead of schedule which raised the ire of some downtown residents, while some business owners were pleased to see them go in ahead of time.

Wenvan Yu, manager of planning and lands for the city, said the vehicles are technically not parked illegally because there are not any "no parking" signs at either lot.

"(Municipal Enforcement) cannot enforce without adequate signage, so we have to put in signage," she said. "We are working on a long-term solution and we've had discussions with the owners of the Yellowknife Inn regarding a possible temporary lease agreement for parking."

Yu pointed out that the city is holding open houses on May 12 and 13 to discuss the future of the 50/50 lot. She did not have information on what the city intends to do with the lot across the street.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.