Yellowknife (Apr 23/04) - Yellowknife city councillor Bob Brooks says it's time the city wades back into the murky waters of regulatory control over Yellowknife Bay.

Brooks served notice at the last city council meeting, April 12, that he intends to bring forward a motion seeking an inter-jurisdictional agreement with federal and territorial departments and the Yellowknives Dene for control over the waters surrounding Yellowknife.

He plans to make the motion at the next regular council meeting, Monday.

Brooks may be in for a rough ride, however.

The last attempt by the city to assert its authority over Yellowknife Bay ended in failure four years ago, when Municipal and Community Affairs threw out the city's request for control over the lake bed.

The city wanted to apply building standards and levy property taxes against houseboaters. They launched a series of lawsuits, starting in 1996, against several houseboaters, but eventually abandoned their claim in the summer of 2000.

Nonetheless, Brooks feels confident City Hall will get it right this time.

"We want to make sure that we don't make the same mistake that the past council made in assuming that we had jurisdiction," said Brooks.

"What I proposed at that time, and lost, was that the city work out an inter-jurisdictional agreement so that the city does have the jurisdiction to do what it needs to do to control development and make sure it's safe."

Helter-skelter houseboats

He said the lack of regulations and control over Yellowknife Bay worries him. The number of houseboats continues to grow, but few rules are in place to make sure things don't get out of hand.

"You could build a two-by-two shack where people could freeze to death in the winter time, and it wouldn't be (in line with) the building code because we couldn't even inspect it," said Brooks.

Houseboats aren't the only concern for the four-term city councillor. He said the city may be caught napping if they don't take advantage of Yellowknife Bay's potential for tourism-related business.

"You could actually build a phased development community with restaurants in the middle, and make it into a big tourist attraction," said Brooks.

But for the city to get involved in that, he said they have to start negotiating with the various government agencies now.

"There's been suggestions that somebody would like to build a houseboat marine park," said Brooks.

"Well, we would have no control over that, except for the dock."

MACA deputy minister Debbie DeLancey said it's too early for the department to comment on Brooks' proposal, although they are looking into what role the department could play if city council moves the motion forward.

"I'm going to need to get someone to do a little file digging on this one," said Delancey.

Great Slave MLA Bill Braden said he's intrigued. but wonders if Brooks' idea is feasible.

"Without having talked directly with him, tri-level management board can be very cumbersome," said Braden.

"But if all three levels of government can get together at the table and say, 'look, what can we do to constructively manage this in the long-term?' That would be a very positive step."

Matthew Grogono, who was one of the first houseboaters taken to court by the city, said he agrees that the houseboat community lacks regulatory control, but doubts the city is capable of taking it on.

"There are people doing weird things and it's not being monitored successfully," said Grogono.

"But right now the city is having a hard enough time monitoring alder bushes on a walking trail," he added, referring to the recent controversy over a survey line slashed through the Niven Lake walking trail.

As for Brooks' vision of opening the bay up to tourism, Grogono called it a great idea.

"We've got a dynamic waterfront area," said Grogono.

"Let's utilize it constructively and in an organized manner. He and I might even be on the same page when it comes to the concept."