SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A city development officer has given the green light to blasting and grading a section of a TC Enterprises property in the Range Lake neighbourhood that's been the subject of several nixed development attempts.
About half of the 1.2 hectare lot owned by the company is occupied by the 36-unit 1 Bartesko Ct. apartment building while the other section was a thinly treed, rocky area. The company has repeatedly applied to add further housing to the lot, but opposition by neighbours and councillors to raising the density cap to allow development has torpedoed those attempts.
Tony Chang, co-president of the company, said at a city council meeting last year that if the development was not approved, he'd cut down the trees and turn it into a parking lot.
Last month, neighbours heard saws cutting the trees on the lot and an estimated 70 per cent of the trees were felled. The city reached out to TC Enterprises and advised it to stop any further work until a permit application had been submitted, according to city spokesperson Nalini Naidoo.
Naidoo said late last month the submission would be reviewed by the city and posted to its website.
When Frank Davignon first saw the trees that used to be along the back of his Foreman Court property cut, he figured the next step would have to be blasting if TC planed to turn the space into a parking lot. On May 28 the city gave approval for blasting.
"I cannot stop him from doing what he wants to do on his land," Davignon said Monday.
"If you're going to apply for a permit, that's fine, but follow the rules."
Conditions of the permit include complying with approved plans, conducting only work approved, keeping the site tidy after work is completed and that any storage structure requires a further development permit. The development permit documents state the land will be used as a parking lot and storage area.
Anyone claiming to be affected by the development had until June 11 to file an appeal with city hall.
It's not clear when blasting could begin.
As of Tuesday, the city had received three e-mails from neighbours with questions about the tree cutting and the blasting permit, according to Wenyan Yu, the city's manager of planning and lands.
Davignon doesn't believe the company will actually go ahead with blasting.
"He's playing a chess game, waiting for a council that's more willing for development in the future," Davignon said, referring to Chang.
When Yellowknifer called TC Enterprises office Monday, no one was immediately available to comment. While the paper was told the request for comment would be passed on, no one called back. It was told that since the message was passed on, to not call back.
