SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE -The final vote on a controversial update of park rules, labelled 'tyranny' by some residents, will go ahead with an aim among councillors to defeat it and start from scratch.

Mark Heyck: "We might as well do the work now and get it right."

Council held a special committee meeting last Friday to deal with the revamped bylaw, after facing a storm of protest from residents over the past couple weeks who were worried the new rules would give too much power to the city to police relatively innocent activities such as tobogganing or throwing plastic balls in public parks.

Council already passed the parks bylaw on first and second reading Sept. 14, after which some councillors admitted they were overwhelmed with other council business and hadn't read the entire document.

On Friday, council voted five to three to proceed with third reading, with a plan to kill the bylaw at the last meeting among current councillors after next month's municipal election.

Three councillors, including Mark Heyck, wanted council to send the bylaw back to administration first to make changes before a third reading vote in hopes that the re-draft will be satisfactory enough to allow council to pass it. He said it was "illogical" to let the bylaw go to third reading so it can be defeated and then force council to go through the process all over again.

"We might as well do the work now and get it right," said Heyck, adding it will take another three or four months to get the bylaw back to first reading.

He said there was no clear direction for administration to rewrite the bylaw, besides the concerns heard in the meeting.

The new rules update the current parks and facilities bylaw, and references some 60 prohibited activities - many of them new, including a ban on: entering into "any undeveloped or natural area other than a designated trail," and doing anything "which is likely to draw a crowd."

The fines for breaking park rules remain unchanged under the updated bylaw, with $2,000 maximum fines for individuals and $10,000 for corporations.

Coun. Paul Falvo, who voted to proceed with a third reading, took exception with a memo to council prepared by city administration for the Friday meeting, which called residents' use of city parks and recreational facilities a "privilege."

"It's not the way we should be looking at it, I think it's the other way around," said Falvo.

"We should be remembering who is paying for these parks. We're stewards and it's not for city hall to bestow these privileges on residents."

He added intentions for updating the bylaw were good, especially to protect staff and residents from unsafe situations, but he said the bylaw changes are too arbitrary, and some, such as prohibitions on carrying weapons and making threatening remarks and gestures, are already prohibited under the Criminal Code of Canada.

"We've got something here that ends up being too specific and too vague," said Falvo.

"The angle it seems to come from is prohibiting everything, unless it's specifically allowed."

"What I don't see in here is anything about dealing drugs or prostitution," added Coun. Lydia Bardak, who, besides Falvo, was the only councillor to vote against the bylaw at first and second reading.

"I don't know how we selected which criminal code matters were in and which were out. There is already a law written for that and I don't think you can legislate good behaviour."

During the meeting, administration provided a list of six of the rules, including the off-trail and drawing a crowd provisions, that were special areas of concern for the public and city council, while offering recommendations to either change or remove them completely.

Couns. Bardak, Bob Brooks, Falvo, David Wind and Dave McCann voted to go ahead with third reading, while Kevin Kennedy, Heyck and Shelagh Montgomery voted to make amendments prior to third reading.

City administrator Max Hall said it was unlikely staff will have an amended bylaw in time for the next council meeting on Oct. 26, and if council had voted to amend it before third reading, it would have likely been held over until the new council is sworn in.