Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 01/02) - Four residents stood before council Monday to air their opinions about proposed changes to the Niven Lake development plan.

Glenn Tait and Robert Mulders, who own homes in the subdivision, asked council to reconsider underground wiring in the first two phases, before the city paves Niven Road.

"We'd raised this with the city a year ago," said Mulders. "It was our impression that (power lines) were just set up temporarily, and that the initial plan was to have them buried."

The city says it sold the lots to residents with the understanding that they would be serviced by above-ground utilities, but is willing to provide residents with a local improvement - a loan in the city's name that residents would have to pay back.

Installing underground wiring would cost between $7,500 and $10,000 per lot, said city finance director Robert Charpentier.

"A majority of them are reluctant to fork over that kind of money," said Mulders, who added that removing the wires would probably do little for the value of the property. "It's more of an aesthetic thing," he said.

Environmental concerns

The last two presenters made two very different environmental pitches to council.

Vaughn del Valle argued that the area between Peace River Flats and Jackfish Ravine should remain in its current zoning as "nature preserve."

The Niven redesign changes the area's designation to park and recreation, a less strict zoning which allows, among other things, a trail for motorized vehicles.

"The bureaucracy is ... irreversibly proposing to damage ... an environmentally sensitive green reserve that will never recover," del Valle read from a letter he sent to council Feb. 9.

Chris O'Brien asked council to consider setting aside one lot in the plan to house an environmental super-house.

He proposed a house with highly-efficient water reclamation facilities powered by a fuel cell.

Such a house, he said, would be perfect in an area on trucked services, as it would only need to be "topped up" infrequently.

"I think it's the future," he said. "It's the 21st century in housing, and I think we have a really good opportunity to do it here in town. We have a lot of people who are interested. It's like an investment in the future and it's obviously going to make Yellowknife in the long run an even better place to live."

The idea struck a chord with a number of councillors, who asked O'Brien a series of questions about the enviro-friendly house and asked him to provide more detailed documentation on the house.