Future cabin leases around Yellowknife may be given out via lotteries

Whenever the N.W.T. government starts issuing new leases for cabins and recreational land use around Yellowknife again, it might do so using lotteries.

"That's within the realm of possibility," said Gina Ridgely, manager of sustainability with the Department of Lands.

The department temporarily stopped taking applications for new leases in 2014, after it took over jurisdiction for a swath of Yellowknife-area land previously administered by the federal government.

The area stretches out for five kilometres on each side of the Ingraham Trail (Highway 4) and Highway 3 toward Behchoko, and is the area "with the highest demand for new leases" in the territory, said Ridgely.

That was clearly on display in the summer of 2015, when the government offered up 22 vacant cabin lots via lottery to a hungry crowd of 913 ballot holders.    

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The department is still mulling how it wants to issue other leases in the area, including alternatives to the traditional first-come-first-served model, such as ballot draws. That review was expected to be over by now. 

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"That planning exercise — I don't want to comment what the outcome of the planning exercise will look like, before the planning exercise has been completed," said Ridgely.

"So [lotteries] might be a possibility, but I wouldn't want to say, 'Yes, that's how it's going to look.'"

The downside of a lottery

Opting for one system over another would require a tradeoff. Whereas people making individual applications can come to the government with a specific lot in mind, people applying under a ballot system are beholden to spots within a wider area set aside for leasing by the government.

Department officials said Tuesday at an open house in Yellowknife that some public feedback gathered so far has indicated misgivings about the first-come-first-serve model as administered by the federal government before devolution, citing long wait times.

As for when the N.W.T. government will officially open the door to new cabins near Yellowknife again: the department could not say.