Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 15/05) - A study that recommends building new homes on land zoned for park and nature preserve has been given the thumbs-down by callers to Yellowknifer's telephone poll.

Altogether, 72 people voted; 74% (53) opposed the infill plan and 26% (19) supported it.

Here's what some of the callers had to say:

"It makes more sense to build within city limits on vacant land rather than in the outlying areas of the city. There's a demand for not only low-cost housing, but reasonable-cost housing, so we're not seeing four and five people sharing common living space in one dwelling just to have a place to live. Although if the city is willing to assist residents with reasonable priced transit and not raise prices for that transit, then the outlying areas would be more viable for building. If you have people living in the outlying areas, we might see an influx of traffic to and from town, which would interfere with our programs set forth to clean up our air and environment by lessening our greenhouse gas emissions. I would rather see housing on some of these vacant lots rather than another gas station, parking lot, or store."

"One of the pieces scheduled for redevelopment borders my property. I'm totally against this idea. I just bought this home in October of last year with full information from the city and the realtor that there was absolutely no immediate plan to redevelop this area. Now according to the city's report, it's scheduled to be done as soon as 2006. Certainly this land has been greenspace since the 90s when we came here. We bought the property for the greenspace and we want to keep it that way and believe a lot of our neighbours feel the same way."

"City Hall keeps forgetting greenspace is what makes Yellowknife worth living in. To get an idea of how successful City Hall-approved developments are, take a look at any city-approved visitors guide. The visitors guide that we publish for tourists is full of pictures of houseboats and Woodyard and other non-approved development. There are no pictures in the visitors guide of city-approved development."

"I find it very appalling that any city would want to get rid of greenspace. It's a preserve that keeps people's sanity and it's something that gives the city character."

"What is required is a clean sweep of council and administration. We need new people with long-term vision at the helm. Everything is crisis management, left to the last minute. Blasting natural landscapes, permitting residences built on pallets, lack of available single-family dwelling lots for individuals to build homes, zero maintenance policies on the city properties and facilities, gross cost overruns of phase one of the Multiplex is a recipe for disaster. It's time for a wholesale change of city council, administration and the over-paid bureaucrats in city hall."

"I'm very strongly opposed to the infill and putting houses on greenspaces. We have to remember the big picture and the long-term picture. We have to look at quality of life. There are a lot of transient people coming into the North for the boom, but for those of us who are long-term Northerners, this is our home. This isn't a boom-make-a-buck place. It's important for us to ask what kind of home are we going to have in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years and what kind of home are our children and grandchildren going to have."