Phased twin-pad arena beside high school hobbles past third reading
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 28/01) - In a last minute but futile effort three councillors dug in their heels trying to stymie preliminary work on the construction of a phased-twin pad arena beside Sir John Franklin high school.
The bylaw to allow the city to build the phased twin-pad arena beside the high school went before council for a third reading on Monday night and squeaked by on a razor thin four to three vote.
The bylaw went through scathing debate two weeks ago. Council voted six to one to send the bylaw to a third reading.
Councillors Alan Woytuik, Robert Hawkins and Dave McCann scrambled to delay a move they believe still holds too many unanswered questions, the most pressing being the site's geo-technical evaluation.
The city has no site specific data measuring depth of bedrock beside the high school.
"I wanted a little bit more time," said Coun. Dave McCann in a separate interview.
"The geo-technical evaluation and foundation work will dictate the bottom line of cost," said McCann.
McCann tried to delay the third reading by moving to table it for four weeks.
He wanted to get geo-technical results from the high school and Yellowknife Correctional Centre sites before a final decision. But his motion met a quick death. Councillors Kevin O'Reilly, Ben McDonald, Dave Ramsay and Blake Lyons stuck to their guns and voted it down.
Coun. Alan Woytuik couldn't even initiate debate on the third reading. His motion for debate -- which came before McCann's -- met a similar fate by the same four councillors.
Coun. Kevin O'Reilly said more debate would be redundant.
"I don't believe I've heard any new issues raised," said O'Reilly. Woytuik's move for debate stemmed from four public presentations heard that night.
Ray Decorby, Gabrielle Decorby, Mike Byrne and Vic Mercredi all pleaded with council to reconsider the high school site.
"Please give consideration to addressing all the concerns surrounding this issue before you cast the dice," said Mike Byrne, Yellowknife city councillor from 1981 to 1991.
Coun. Ben McDonald, a staunch supporter of the high school site, said nothing is written in stone. The city has not signed a lease yet and design work still has to begin. He said the city won't be going in blind and building at all cost.
"We are not going to build if it's 500 feet deep," said McDonald answering questions about the lack of geo-technical data.
"The only decision we made is to go forward," he said.
"All these boogymen are coming up because people don't like the site," said Mcdonald.
He believes a lot of concerns people have are honestly held but not well founded.
Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city is going into the project with eyes peeled.
"Now its a matter of managing a process," he said. "If geo-technical reports deviate in amount out of budget range there will be a quick re-evaluating," said Van Tighem.
Woytuik was unrepentant in his opposition of the high school site. He still holds he'll be the one saying "I told you so" to other councillors in 10 years.
Coun. Robert Hawkins promised to hound administration and ensure costs don't snowball.
On Thursday the city received a letter from PSAV Architects Ltd. requesting council re-examine their decision to build a phased-twin pad arena beside Sir John Franklin high school.
The firm designed the original phased twin-pad arena. According to administration, the $400,000 blue prints will be used in the design of the new arena. "It is our opinion that the proposed site at Sir John Franklin school is constrained and not suitable for a facility of this size. We respectfully suggest that this decision be re-examined," said the letter signed by Chong Man Park, principal owner of the firm.
In a separate interview Park said the city could build on the site but shouldn't."Fundamentally...it doesn't fit," said Park.
