Conflicting opinions surface about the city's downtown plan
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 08/00) - Yellowknifers have had the opportunity to study a report of recommendations on how to improve the downtown atmosphere.
A group of 45 residents and business people attended a public consultation meeting last month to view a report on urban planning, which was produced by the City of Yellowknife and consulting firms Terriplan Consultants Ltd. of Yellowknife and the Ontario-based MacNaughton Hermsen Britton Clarkson Planning Limited.
"We went through the document point by point and sort of discussed whether there was support for some things or whether we were on the mark with some things, or if something was missing," said City Planner Dave Jones.
He said those who attended the meeting were particularly interested in seeing a downtown square or meeting place constructed to accommodate a Christmas Tree in the wintertime, the construction of new residential housing in the downtown core and creating a public market.
Concerns were raised about garbage collection and street and sidewalk cleaning.
Jones said those concerns will not be addressed in the downtown plan itself, but will be addressed by city officials in the future.
But when talks of implementing an incentives program to encourage more residential construction downtown came about, the group was split in their opinions.
"I guess there was kind of a mixed reaction one side of it was that (the city) should just let the private sector take care of things and there shouldn't be any subsidies, and the other side that some of these things might be a good investment in the community and that the money would come back in new tax revenue from new buildings being constructed.
"I guess the perspective being 'can we afford this' and that kind of thing," Jones said.
One local business person said she is not pleased with the city's consultation process.
Gabrielle Decorby, co-owner of Polar Developments, said Yellowknifers should have been provided with the Terms of Reference that was distributed to the hired consultants.
"While these Terms of Reference may have been available at city hall, it's always best to provide all of the information up front. It allows for more informed input," she said.
Decorby said she believes the process "allowed for too much complicacy and impractical wish-listing.
"In my view, for a plan to be successful, it must begin by addressing fundamental concepts, not detail."
Newly-elected mayor Gord Van Tighem also had some problems with the consultation process."I think they need to consult with a few more people than they have been ... to involve more of the downtown businesses and downtown residents. They had a lot of people from outside of the downtown area there," said Van Tighem.
