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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife is a growing city of 50,000.

Boaters troll out on Yellowknife Bay and point out their homes along Tin Can Hill. Cyclists commute into town, down Old Airport Road through burgeoning neighbourhoods lined with businesses to pick up lunch for a picnic they are planning at a park just off the Kam Lake ring road.

This is the idyllic vision Yellowknifers have for their city 50 years from now, according to a MetroQuest report released to city council last week.

The report says residents want a more compact and high-density downtown - and city in general - with preserved green spaces and support for alternative means of transportation.

The findings come from eight workshops - four held in September, and four in October - which pooled the interests of 220 Yellowknifers through a survey, encapsulating the desires of a wide-range of residents, including youth, seniors and First Nations groups.

The survey was also available on the city's website.

Jeffrey Humble, director of planning and lands, said the exercise was both a consultation tool and public education session on the relationship between building density, land use and transportation involved in city planning.

In two 50-year projection maps, development sprawls into the Con Mine property and along Tin Can Hill, while Old Airport Road becomes an integrated residential and business area.

"I think that is a long-term vision," said Humble.

Humble said in-fill was discussed as a way of sprucing up the city, but said it does not automatically mean targeting green space. Instead, he said, underutilized or unsuitable land in the city - like pockets in the downtown and Old Airport Road areas - can be revitalized.

Humble said the city recently acquired a portion of land behind Canadian Tire and wants to tie it into Old Airport Road. The goal is to make Old Airport Road a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly area, tied into trail networks and close to green spaces.

Council has informally discussed providing incentives to move industrial businesses out to the Engle Business District, past the airport on Highway 3 at the entrance of the Kam Lake Bypass road. This included businesses now situated on Old Airport Road.

Tin Can Hill - the majority of which is undeveloped - was also mentioned as an area for expansion, although Humble recognized any development would take into account the fact that many Yellowknifers want to preserve a large portion of it.

Humble said the projection maps found within the report are not templates which the city will attempt to replicate, but instead demonstrates the kind of balance residents are looking for.

If the city gives up a piece of green land, it could provide another one somewhere else, said Humble.

"This is really our mid-component of the consultation stage of our plan," he said, adding a five-day design conference in late April and early May will allow for specific input on how neighbourhoods will look.

"We are hoping we can get some good turnout," he said, where people participating can give feedback on what is "near and dear to them," including discussions on topics such as park space, residential development and parking issues.

"It's really providing how we want to see Yellowknife look not just 50 years from now, but even in 10 years," he said.

Humble was impressed with the feedback from the MetroQuest workshops and said the ideas will have meaningful impact on what the city will look like and even the city's general plan. The plan is reviewed and redrafted every five years and outlines where and how the city should grow, transportation and land-use plans and where dollars should be invested. The next general plan is scheduled for this year.