Frame Lake South: 'the Sleeping giant'
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Oct 11/00) - It's as close to suburbia as you will find in the North.
Its manicured lawns and gardens, new homes and prominent garages make Frame Lake South the most southern of Northern neighbourhoods.
| Fact File
Yellowknife South stats: Age:
Aboriginal 13.4% Non-aboriginal 86.4% Dwelling type
Source: 1996 census |
"It certainly doesn't have the style that the Flats have or the Island," conceded John Simpson, a resident of Finlayson Drive since the mid-80s.
"It's like a southern subdivision, very much so. But I'm sure the people in Mississauga quite like their community. So I don't necessarily see that as a criticism."
Most of Frame Lake South falls into the territorial riding of Yellowknife South. MLA Brendan Bell just moved into the area last week.
"I've lived downtown and I grew up downtown, and everything there seems a little faster -- people drive faster, people aren't as friendly," said Bell.
"Out here, everybody's really tight and neighbourly, nobody speeds, and people are looking out for kids and pets. It's a family-type atmosphere."
Tanya Lansdown, assistant manager of The Monkey Tree, one of only two bars in the area, had difficulty generalizing about her customers, saying it's a pretty diverse crowd that includes middle-aged as well as young people and both blue and white collar workers.
The range of music on hand at the Monkey Tree -- polkas, country western, dance music -- serves as a good indication of the range of people that tip a few at 'The Tree.'
"It's more relaxed (than downtown)," said Lansdown. "People come here to have a good time."
Build it and they will come
The development of Frame Lake South was sort of like Yellowknife's puberty.
In 1982, the area we was mostly scrub and rock. A small pocket of houses and trailers existed on the North and south sides of Old Airport road at its intersection with Franklin.
When it was planned in the mid-'70s, Frame Lake South was a huge undertaking that highlighted a recurring theme that often accompanies huge undertakings in the North -- a lack of federal interest in the project and, more importantly, the absence of federal funding needed to make it happen.
The scale of the new subdivision was vast -- room enough for 1,000 single family homes, 500 multi-family dwellings, 300 duplexes and 200 mobile home lots. The city estimated it would cost $18.5 million to lay the sewer and water lines and build the roads that would turn the rocky area into a neighbourhood.
(To give some idea of how much further a dollar went in those days, an MLA's basic annual salary was $7,500.)
When the houses of Frame Lake South were being built between 1981-91, the city issued a total of 4,213 building permits worth a total $381.7 million. The city's population increased 60 per cent.
Simpson counted himself lucky to be able to buy his lot. At that time the vacancy rate in the city was zero per cent and there was such a demand for building lots that the city held draws for the right to purchase.
Urban sprawl
Retail businesses followed quickly on the heels of the establishment of the new residential area.
"Like most communities, things are moving out here," said Simpson. "It used to be that we had to go downtown for everything. This is where the major grocery stores are now and the Wal-Marts and the Saans."
In the last four years, while there has been a glut of retail space downtown, new businesses have been springing up on Old Airport Road.
The commercial area of Frame Lake South is home to a variety of chain restaurants, including McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and Tim Horton's, further reinforcing its image as Mississauga of the North.
