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Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services
It's 18 months since Great Slave Lake Lodges applied to extend its dock into Back Bay -- far too long, in Shane Jonker's estimation.
Jonker, a manager at Great Slave, applied in December 2002 to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board with a plan to extend the dock 30 feet west and 100 feet northwest, reclaiming 13,000 square feet of submerged land the company owns on Back Bay.
Jonker also notified the city, Yellowknife's Dene, Fisheries and Oceans and Navigable Waters Protection. Bob Wooley, the board's executive director, said federal agencies screened the project and had already signed off on it, but then Latham Island home owners called the board to voice concerns.
"There was some urgency to the appeals, and the area is contentious," he said.
Great Slave's dock is at the south end of a boardwalk project the city abandoned in the face of neighbourhood opposition, so the board asked Jonker to conduct a formal survey of opinion.
Rumour of the project reached Jannet Pennington before the survey arrived at her home at 6 Lessard Drive.
Pennington heard that the rock and gravel infill was only the first stage -- a three-storey building would follow. Aber Diamonds wanted a waterfront office and Gino Pin would design it.
"We were going to lose our view," said Pennington, who sold her home on Latham Island because of the project and moved to Niven Place.
"The office would draw more traffic, there would be parking problems. It could have an impact on property values."
The dock was also a concern.
"This is an area that's heavily used by kayakers, boaters, kids on water skis -- it's a prime tourist location," she said.
Pennington called the board and wrote to the city along with two other residents: Dianne Magnusson and Larry Adams.
A public hearing isn't manadatory for the Class "B" water licence Great Slave needed for its dock, but Wooley said Yellowknife board members wanted to hear what Latham Island residents had to say.
Near the end of April, the board advertised a public meeting for May 27. It would be the first chance for the public to get a look at a project that few outside Latham Island knew anything about.
A room was reserved in the Explorer Hotel, a sound system rented, translators hired, and staff assigned.
Shane Jonker came from Winnipeg to answer questions, but no one showed up.
The meeting location had not been advertised.
"Anyone who was really interested could have called and found out," Wooley said.
Pennington knew about the meeting, but had to be out of town. It didn't much matter. Federal experts said the dock was not a threat to fish habitat or navigation, and they had no interest in any plan Aber Diamonds might have.
The dock was also on the city's turf so Pennington, Adamas and Magnusson took their concerns to Yellowknife's development appeal board.
The appeals board approved the dock, but there was no ruling on Aber's project. The office building would be compatible with Old Town mixed zoning, but the company abandoned its plan for a $2 million office building before it got to the drawing board.
"The building would have been an asset to the city's water front, but the meetings were going on and on," said Michael Ballantyne, Aber Diamond's vice-president in Yellowknife.
"We decided not to go ahead. There is too much red tape. It doesn't matter if a project is good or bad. All it takes is for one person to write a letter and any project is treated like a mine.
"Aber will never build here," he said.
When Jonker first wrote the water board, he said he wanted to complete the dock by June, in time for Great Slave's 2003 summer season.
Instead, "it took almost two years to build a dock on my own property," he said, and cursed. "It was very expensive, very frustrating."
Pennington and her former neighbours are no less frustrated, but for different reasons.
"It still bothers me that we found out about this by word of mouth," Pennington said.
"There was no official notice of the project until we called the board. As for the city, where is the planning? This is prime waterfront property."
Adams and Magnusson continue to share a home on Otto Drive, but his experience with the dock has made him disenchanted with Yellowknife.
"The waterfront is needed to dock planes, but it would be nice to keep Latham Island as a residential area, he said."
"The town has always driven itself; development happens despite peoples' wishes," said Adams, who is making plans to move south.
