Council OKs new apartments at Tin Can Hill
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, August 5, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Despite concerns over traffic and parking, city council has given the green light for a three-storey apartment building to be constructed on a vacant lot on School Draw Avenue, at the base of Tin Can Hill.
Three councillors - Rebecca Alty, Shauna Morgan and Linda Bussey - voted in favour of the development while Coun. Julian Morse voted against it. As the deputy mayor, Coun. Adrian Bell could only vote to break a tie.
There were only five councillors at Tuesday night's meeting.
The building will house 26 units made up of one, two and three-bedroom apartments. It will sit on a 2,600-square-metre lot owned by the city, and appraised at $585,000 in 2012.
The proponent of the building, Alberta developer Robert Findlay, who used to live in Yellowknife, said he was pleased by council's decision.
"My biggest step now besides informing my investment team is to get the geo-technical work done because there's always been some issues that there may be problems in the ground," Findlay said.
"I also want to get an environmental (report) done because as a kid I remember that was a garbage dump for the mess hall at Con Mine."
Findlay said he also has to go through city hall for a development permit as well and he is not quite sure exactly how long that process will take.
In a perfect world, he would like to see construction begin before the cold weather sets in.
 | Parking in the area is an issue | 
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At least one neighbour in the area came to council to express her concerns about traffic, parking and noise from blasting. Megan Mindus, who lives right next door to the proposed apartment building, told councillors that the area is already quite busy with vehicles.
"Most places in town have multiple vehicles - there's already boats, trucks, Ski-Doos - everything lined up out there," she said.
"We also enjoy the recreational use of the hill ... we just want to keep parking as minimal as possible."
Coun. Adrian Bell agreed that parking in the area is an issue.
"The parking situation can be somewhat resolved by the city doing a better job with the space it currently has there. There is a lot of space available it just needs to be better utilized," Bell said.
"This has been zoned for multi-family - that doesn't mean that neighbours necessarily want to see it go forward. Quite often you see folks who want to see it remain an empty space."
Bell said now that council has approved the development proposal, it will step back as the builder deals with the city's administration.
The building will be unusual for Yellowknife in that it is constructed almost entirely out modular steel units.
Findlay said that despite its name, the building is not constructed of seacans stacked on top of each other.
"It's what we call a modified sea-container. It's all steel and spray foam," Findlay said. "You can clad the thing with whatever exterior you want - it could be stucco, it could be cedar, it could be corrugated steel. Once it's finished it does not look like a sea-container building."
