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Yellowknifers line the Wiley Road waterfront during the 2009 Float Plane Fly In. Phase II of the city's harbour plan proposes to build a walkway that would open the stretch of waterfront to the public year round. - Jack Danylchuk/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Signs on Wiley Road say "private property" and landowners intend to keep it that way, throwing what may prove an insurmountable barrier in the path of a public boardwalk proposed for the Back Bay shoreline.

The boardwalk sketched in Phase II of a report on the Yellowknife Harbour Plan addresses public demand for improved access to the city's waterfront that was expressed during meetings with the Toronto consultants who drafted proposals for the area.

"I'm totally against it," said Donnie Robinson, whose family owns a large tract that would bookend the proposed walkway. "We bought the property and it extends into the water - we have it that way so that it's private, and we want to keep it that way.

"They will not get our consent," Robinson added, recalling that the family contributed land to the city for Wiley Road. "Our property took up half of that road. We gave up about three or four metres to allow the road to continue - as for giving them any more, I don't think that's going to happen at all."

In other cities that have constructed waterfront boardwalks, landowners were persuaded to allow public access through zoning and density concessions. Where a deal could not be struck, the city bought property, subtracted space for the public walkway and sold what remained.

Yellowknife has passed on recent opportunities to add to its waterfront land holdings, watching as developer Les Rocher bought the land on which the former Johnson's Building Supply stands, and did not bid for David Metcalfe's key lot when the 30-year resident of Yellowknife decided to retire south. The Rosignol family bought it, and like the Robinsons, Ghislaine Rosignol said they intend to keep it private.

"We bought that property to be quiet beside the lake," she said. "It's for our retirement - instead of moving to Edmonton or Calgary like everybody else, we decide that we like Yellowknife and bought here."

Dwight and Jane Peart, the Rosignol's neighbours, and Max Ward, owner of the property who lives adjacent to the Robinsons, could not be reached for comment.

Robinson said the city's management of the downtown beautification plan has reinforced his bias against the proposal to open the Wiley Road waterfront to the public.

"They've done a wonderful job on the downtown core, putting park benches up - the benches are filled daily with loiterers that are vomiting, spitting or urinating on the streets," he said.

"And they want to create more public access - the city has spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on beautifying the core, and they can't control what's there.

"Old Airport Road is a joke - they've put a few pine trees in, some plants, curb and gutter, and in between are knee-high weeds," Robinson added.

"They're going a little crazy in the town with all of their new developments - they are spending money putting makeup on a pig.

"That's OK, but you have to look after it - city bylaw only enforces traffic, not loiterers."

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