IQALUIT - Several possible designs are on the table for creating a new cemetery for Iqaluit on the Road to Nowhere.

Consultant Catharine Berris laid out five scenarios for city councillors with different layouts and foot and vehicle access. She said her company had consulted with a variety of groups throughout Iqaluit in determining what people want, including elders and members of local churches.

Some of the design factors under consideration include having graves face the direction of the rising sun in winter: south-southeast.

A major consideration is access for earth-moving vehicles to dig the graves. In southern Canada cemeteries are all grass, which regenerates quickly after heavy equipment rolls over it. Tundra vegetation grows much slower, so there needs to be internal paths for the machines to use, or they will ruin the natural beauty of the site.

IBC asks for tax exemption

The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation has asked the city for an exemption from paying municipal taxes for five years on the new studios it plans to build.

IBC wants to build a Media Arts Centre to replace its aging facilities and enhance the company's capabilities. The new building would have all the capabilities of a studio in southern Canada including digital audio and video editing suites and studios for filming television shows. This would include having live studio audiences.

IBC vice-president Madeleine D'Argencourt told council IBC hopes to start putting in the foundation for the $10 million building before the end of the building season this year. The councillors deferred making a decision until the next meeting.

Sewage plant to be upgraded

Representatives of the company considering expanding Iqaluit's wastewater treatment plant met with city council to present what they have found out since they came to Iqaluit.

Vice-president Yves Garceau of Bionest Kodiak, a Quebec-based engineering company, said he believes the company has technology which would make Iqaluit's plant more efficient in processing waste.

He asked the city to arrange for a meeting with the city's public works staff so they could go over some of the technical details.

"We're not taking away from what the current sewage plant does," he said. "We're adding to it and making sure the city is having full use of it."

Garceau also asked for a third party to look at Bionest's technology proposals to give the city a second opinion about how useful it would be.

Beautiful trash

The city of Iqaluit is considering introducing attractive trash receptacles throughout the city.

"This will create a point for people to have respect for public art," said artist Johnathan Cruz.

Iqaluit economic development officer Erin Gordey said there had been an "outcry" from the public to have garbage cans in public spaces around Iqaluit.

Cruz said he will create visually attractive garbage cans without charging the city. Making them visually attractive would deter vandals from destroying the garbage cans, Cruz said.