City shoots down proposed work camp
Councillors reject changing zoning bylaw to allow 250 person accommodation in Kam Lake for those building new hospital
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, May 27, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife City Council has given the thumbs down to a proposal to set up a temporary work camp in Kam Lake for as many as 250 workers needed to help construct the new Stanton hospital.
Dave Brothers, vice-president for Clark Builders, tells councillors Wednesday the company needs to build a large work camp in Kam Lake to house workers constructing the new Stanton hospital. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
Councillors rejected a change to a zoning bylaw that would have allowed the camp to be built in a huge gravel parking lot adjacent to a new subdivision by a vote of 4-3.
The camp was proposed by Clark Builders, the company building the new hospital.
The vote at Tuesday night's council meeting followed presentations to council earlier in the day by both supporters and opponents to the work camp project. Couns. Rommel Silverio, Julian Morse, Adrian Bell and Shauna Morgan voted against the proposal while councillors Linda Bussey, Rebecca Alty and Steve Payne voted for it.
Coun. Niels Konge was absent from the meeting.
There had been concerns raised by residents who live in new homes on nearby Hall Crescent over the potential for noise and what some called the late notice about the proposed camp given to them.
A hastily organized petition against the idea had garnered at least 83 signatures since last Friday when Hall Crescent residents received notices about the plan.
Mayor Mark Heyck said he was surprised by the result of the vote.
"We will need to speak with city staff and speak with the proponent to see what comes next," Heyck said. Heyck would not describe the idea as dead in the water just yet.
However, he said that a public hearing on the issue scheduled for June 13 has now been canceled.
Dave Brothers, vice president for Clark Builders, said he was also surprised by the vote adding he is not sure what the company's next move will be.
"This is a huge issue for us and the hospital. We are going see what we can do to find other options," Brothers said. "This is a generational project. We will never see another project like this in the North. I don't think they understand the magnitude of what has happened."
Brothers said if the company can't house people to build the project then they risk skilled tradesmen not coming to Yellowknife.
"This is done all over the world, except in Yellowknife," a frustrated Brothers said, adding there are not enough hotel rooms and apartments available to house all the workers. "We've looked. There are not a lot of accommodations available." He said they have hired locally as much as possible but still need workers from outside Yellowknife.
Brothers said they will continue to look for options to house workers but added that it is going to cost Clark Builders and its partners some money.
He did say however that the housing issue can not and will not delay the construction of the hospital.
Brothers also said that concerns about noise and rowdyism at the camp are unfounded.
He said the people who would occupy the camp would be here to work, not party.
He added that the camp would be managed with a strict no alcohol rule and noise regulations.
Jim Pook of Northern Communications and Navigation Systems, located on nearby Coronation Drive, was among those addressing council.
He said he supports Clark Builders and the hospital project but added that the proposed work camp was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"It should go somewhere where it's not going to be part of the city. My concern is with Coronation Drive," Pook said. "The road is a joke. The road is dusty. The road is narrow. If you are going to have a 250 worker camp - you can't tell me that you are not going to have people walking all over the place out here. They won't stay put and half the time they are loaded."
