SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - There was something amiss, says Wayne Langenhan, as he drove down Highway 3 towards home on Sept. 13 and saw a roadside check stop ahead of him.

Wayne Langenhan says bylaw officers were conducting a check stop outside the city’s jurisdiction on Highway 3 on Sept. 13. He suggests the city ought to have signs clearly marking the boundary. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

Langenhan, who lives in a house alongside the highway 20 km outside of Yellowknife, commutes back and forth from the city to his home nearly every day, and knows the road well.

Ahead of him were a collection of vehicles on the side of the road belonging to city bylaw enforcement and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, he says.

"They were stopping cars from both directions with their flashers on," said Langenhan.

"They were checking for driver's licences, insurance and registration."

However, he said there was one small problem: the check stop wasn't inside city limits.

Langenhan said after going through the check stop and showing his driver's licence, he went back home and found a can of fluorescent green spray paint.

He brought it back to the check stop, which was still in operation, and approached the same bylaw officer who stopped him.

"I asked him to point where the city limits were," said Langenhan. "He told me he wasn't exactly sure but they were within the municipality, and they patrol all the way to (Fiddler's) Lagoon."

Langenhan marked a spot with spray paint on a rock near the check stop and drove away.

According to online city and territorial government maps, the city boundary is about 400 metres west of the turnoff to the Catholic retreat on Trapper's Lake. The turnoff to Fiddler's Lagoon - the city's sewage treatment pond - is about 3.2 km beyond that.

When News/North accompanied Langenhan to the spot where he spray painted the rock, an odometer check revealed the location is about 1.6 km beyond the city boundary.

A few years ago, armed with a survey map, he went to city hall to complain about a sign outside the lagoon announcing to drivers they were now entering city limits. He pointed out that while the lagoon may have been within the city's jurisdiction the highway beside it wasn't.

Shortly after that, Langenhan said the sign was removed and erected further down the road towards the city, where it stood for a while but then inexplicably disappeared.

Now, the lack of signs indicating the city boundaries confuses both motorists and bylaw officers alike, according to Langenhan.

"There are no signs saying you're entering or leaving the capital city of the NWT," he said.

Jeff Humble, director of planning and lands, said he doesn't know when the sign was taken down.

There aren't any signs on the eastern boundary of Yellowknife on the Ingraham Trail either. He confirmed the city's boundary on Highway 3 is near Trapper's Lake.

He said boundary signs are something the city should consider.

"I think it would make sense to have signs at both entrance ways to the city," said Humble.

When asked whether a traffic ticket issued by a bylaw officer outside of city limits would still be valid in court, Kevin Dennis, a justice of the peace, said: "Bylaw officers are regulated under provisions of the city bylaws, that's all I'll say."

Doug Gillard, manager of municipal enforcement could not be reached for comment.