Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 15/02) - Installed more than 30 years ago, Northland trailer park's water and sewer system is breaking down.

How to repair it is another question in the debate between city hall and the condo corporation.

The estimated cost of repairing the two kilometres of piping is around $5 million, or $30,000 per lot. A lot in the park sells for an average of $42,000.

The question is, should the residents or the city pay for the repairs?

A similar situation arose in 1992, when the city sold Forrest Drive Trailer Park to its residents for $100,000. The agreement was that the city would reassume ownership of the roads, water and sewer infrastructure five years later -- once residents had paid for a $686,000 water and sewer replacement.

Could or should a similar deal be worked out for the trailer park?

Northland Utilities is finalizing details on buying the trailer park's decrepit underground electrical system for $5. In exchange, it will pay for some $600,000 in repairs; the condo corporation will provide about $78,000 of that.

When it comes to water and sewer repairs, it seems clear that the city will not pay.

"Something like that would be a tremendous new priority and unless you went out and raised taxes there would be reverberations throughout the system," said Coun. Dave McCann. "We need a creative solution here but one which still allows us to live within our principles as a city, and to be fair to all taxpayers and all condos."

The city has, however, contemplated lending a hand to the condominium residents. Council last fall recommended city staff "discuss the issue of creating a local improvement for the replacement of water and sewer infrastructure."

A local improvement is a loan taken out by the city on behalf of another party. This would give the condo corporation a better rate on a loan, and move the city closer to perhaps buying the land, as it did at Forrest Drive.

But that idea is meeting some resistance at the condo corporation, where some argue that the price of putting the new system is simply too high.

In the words of one condominium manager, who asked not to be named, paying for sewer repairs on top of a lot "means I've paid $72,000 for this postage-stamp lot in the trailer park. This isn't too fair."