SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Tucked into the end of School Draw Road and overlooking Rat Lake, Tin Can Hill is a fixture of Yellowknife - an undeveloped haven for hikers and dog owners, a space for sledding and sightseeing, all within walking distance of downtown.

Vicky Johnson and her six-year-old daughter Linnea Azzolini walk along Tin Can Hill. Johnson says she uses the area year-round. - Elizabeth McMillan/NNSL photo

Ryan Silke, the director of the NWT Mining Heritage Society, said the area comes by its name naturally. For years, neighbouring Con Mine, the development of which began in the mid-1930s, used it as a dumping ground for tin cans and other garbage.

"Domestic trash from the mine's cookhouse was thrown up on the hill. You can still find those today buried in the bush," he said.

Walking along trails snaking around the hill, it's obvious the ground is still occasionally littered with fresh broken glass and trash.

Silke said what once was a "quasi trash dump" is now endeared by many Yellowknife residents.

Whether or not it should be developed has become a hot issue as city council debates whether or not to re-zone it as a parks and recreation area.

This week's Yellowknifer poll drew the interest of 606 voters as of Thursday afternoon. Of those, 330 (54 per cent) were against any development on Tin Can Hill; 235 (39 per cent) were for limited development; and 41 (seven per cent) were for full development.

Tin Can Hill is currently zoned as growth management - a reserve for future residential development. A bylaw proposal is before city council, calling on it to remove Tin Can Hill from the 2004 General Plan as an area for future development and maintain it as a green space.

It's already passed first reading, and returns to council for a second reading Sept. 14.

Silke said the bulk of the Hill has always remained uninhabited, even after Con Mine put in an access road to connect the mine to Old School Draw Avenue in the early 1940s.

"Con had some buildings there at one point. There were explosives up on the hill overlooking Rat Lake and there were some houses above Con camp," he said.

The geography itself makes it difficult to build homes, he explained.

"It didn't make any sense to be building houses on the outcrop. It would have been expensive in the 1950s and 60s to do development up there," he said.

There was never any residential buildings on the site, he said, because the mine reserved the space for new mining development and drilling.

"So the city just never pursued it because there was other land use going on in the area with the mine so they never zoned it for residential use," Silke said.

But Patrick Doyle, president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, says regardless of the historical use the city should be mindful - it might need the space in the future.

He said there is enough sewer and electrical infrastructure nearby that 1,600 residents could live on the approximately 100 hectare-sized chunk of land.

"It's a prime piece of real estate," he said.

"If they choose not to develop, there can be some infill, but eventually the city will hit a point where infill isn't an option and people are looking for single-dwelling homes."

Doyle said it will cost the city more to develop infrastructure if they have to start building residential properties further away from downtown, which would increase the cost of housing.

"Once you turn this place into parks and recreation, you're not getting it back," he said.

Doyle hopes council will hold off designating Tin Can Hill as green space until a consultant's report on the issue is presented to council later this fall. He said volunteers have put many hours into the report and taxpayers have already paid for it.

"You don't want to tie future councils' hands because you never know what their needs and circumstances will be at that time," he said.

"We're not at a point where we need to develop yet."

Some residents are worried the green space may disappear if the area is developed.

Vicky Johnson is one of them. In favour of rezoning Tin Can Hill, Johnson said the space adds to the quality of life for Yellowknifers.

"It's a place to go and clear your head. It's a place to have a bit of quiet without having to go very far from home," she said.

She said her family uses the space year-round for hiking, sledding and berry picking. As a volunteer, she's led people on nature walks there.

A certain amount of maintenance, such as boardwalks over the marshy areas that have been cut up by bike traffic, could improve the area, but she said it doesn't need to become a developed park, either.

"You park your car, go for a walk, go for a ski. I don't see the need for facilities," she said. "This is a natural area, it doesn't need to turn into a big ticket item."