Back Bay dock plan draws unhappy crowd to Yellowknife city hall

A disgruntled crowd packed Yellowknife city hall on Monday to protest a new plan for dealing with docks and float planes in Back Bay. 

The city proposal would see unlicensed docks along a 200-metre stretch of Latham Island's shoreline, between Lessard Drive and Otto Drive, given licences.

Just who would get the licences, however, is proving to be a serious point of contention.

The proposal makes two suggestions: licences could be handed out to the current dock owners, even though they're technically squatting on city land; or licences could be given out in a ballot draw, open to all Yellowknifers.

The second idea has Northwest Territories Floatplane Association president Hal Logsdon calling foul.

"One cannot practically turn back the clock to a day when the shoreline was vacant and start again with a ballot draw. You have to deal with today's reality, that there are float plane parking spots there, they've been there for some time," he told the packed room. 

A similar line of criticism came from Claudia Kraft, president of the Latham Island Neighbourhood Association, who didn't want to see people living on Morrison Drive forced to give up their waterfront access to strangers.

The proposal also suggests running a public trail through the wetland area — an idea that worried Kraft and other LINA members.

"We have concerns about trails along backyards, about late night dock parities at the back doors of houses, about cars packed onto narrow streets, and many other concerns that simply can't be left to a cursory, 'We've heard and understand your concerns' type of discussion," said Kraft.

City won't 'let chaos reign'

From the perspective of city administration, it's about bringing order to a chaotically managed parcel of city-owned land, while also increasing public access to the waterfront.

The city has leased the shoreline from the GNWT since 1979, and the contract dictates that the land must be used in a way that "serves the municipality and the members of the public," according to Jeff Humble, the city's director of planning.

However, they've struggled to open the area to the public. And despite more than 20 years of discussions, they still haven't figured out how to manage people building docks on the parcel of public land.

To make matters more complicated, some of the docks were built before the city's first lease in 1979, and many people have been paying $200 annually, which they claim is a kind of lease payment.

"We have to… have the legislation match the reality of what's occurring or we have a disconnect, and that's a disconnect we have to fix, and if we fail to fix it, then we're essentially letting chaos reign. And that's not government," said Humble.

'20 years of recommendations,' and no solution

For Humble, the ability to rationalize the overlapping web of ownership is a test run for much larger projects contained in the city's harbour plan.

Essentially if they can't figure this out, what hope is there of ever building a marina or major waterfront walkway?  

"I caution council, on giving unclear direction," Humble said. "I don't mean any disrespect, it's a complicated issue. But we have 20 years of recommendations and motions and directions, 15 separate [ones] in this period. And each time it ends up being several years of work and we end up taking a totally different direction than what has been committed to."

In the coming weeks, city council will make a decision about whether to start consulting the community about the proposal.