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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A deal approved by the previous city council last year to allow a major modular home development at Kam Lake to move forward may be heading back to the drawing board after some city councillors expressed their desire to scrap it and start over.

Homes North owner Les Rocher, left, thunders away at city council from the public gallery as associate Walter Orr watches his phone. Rocher told council he is not keen to develop multifamily units himself at Block 501. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

City council voted 6-1 last July to rezone a portion of Block 501 to allow multifamily units to be built, the thinking being that they would help bring in more revenue to help pay for the project. This came after developer Homes North requested the city to over $3.8 million in costs, for paving, park space, lighting, gutter work and water and sewer pipes. City administration argued doing so would contravene

the city's land administration bylaw passed by council in 2010, which states all new development in the city must proceed under a policy of full-cost recovery.

City council appears ready to do an about face, however, after some argued last week that full-cost recovery is unfair.

“I know (Homes North owner Les Rocher) was out trying to sell the multi-family stuff and I don't think it was working out for him,” said city councillor Niels Konge at last week's municipal services meeting.

“I am happy to see we are back to letting the landowner decide what he is going to put on the land. That makes me happy that we are not in a – I'll call it a communist state -- where the state decides what you are going to build. That makes me happy for sure.”

Rocher told council that his company was never really keen to build multifamily homes, and would prefer to see the land rezoned back to R5, medium density residential lots.

“I want what we originally agreed upon, which is single-family mobile homes,” said Rocher while seated the public gallery.

“I never requested multifamily. That was something that was put forward in the previous negotiations and is nothing that we ever requested. We have always had the intention that it was single family and that is what we do.”

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne, the only councillor to vote against the zoning change last summer that allowed mulitfamily units, said he expects council to decide in the near future whether or not to rezone the land back to R5, plus reinstate a typical 12 per cent financial contribution to the project similar to what the city has done in the past.

“Right now we can't do changes to (the full cost recovery bylaw) fast enough to have an impact on this 501 development, so we are probably going to have to make some hard decisions,” said Vanthuyne.

“I am willing to accept that the city brings the water and sewer to the property line and willing thereafter to allow a 12 per cent subsidy from the city with regard to supporting paving, sidewalk, curbing, gutter and streetlighting.”

Homes North consultant Kevin Hodgins told council up to 40 homes in the 160-unit housing project at the corner of Coronation Drive and Kam Lake Road could be completed by midsummer should a development agreement can be reached soon.

“The topography of the site is such that the top end of the property can be treated or can be graded by gravity drainage and the sewer can flow back across Kam Lake Road,” explained Hodgins, when asked about the company's building target. “All of the lots are at the top of that grade break could go soon. In the neighbourhood of 40 homes could be ready by midsummer.”

According to Rocher, the company was open to having multis as part of the project if it moves the project along quicker, particularly if there was another buyer who really wanted to develop them, or the city could do it itself.

“The city felt that there was a demand for more multifamily so we said, 'if somebody wants some, Hell, you're welcome to some,'” said Rocher.

“If you guys want some available, we'll make some available. I just want to get on with the damn work.”

To date, all that has been done at the property is some blasting and removal of soil, according to Hodgins, but that work has been ultimately at the company's own risk and has no impact on whether a development agreement will be reached.

“I am hopeful we can get this development underway this summer and I think we are relatively close from both sides now,” said Mayor Mark Heyck. “It is a matter of a bit more negotiation and hopefully we can see something happening in the next few months.”

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