Plan B for Yellowknife hospital work camp expected today

People in Yellowknife will find out today about the latest plans for housing the 150 to 250 out-of-town tradespeople being brought in to help build the city's new Stanton Territorial Hospital.

Clark Builders, one of two companies building the $300-million hospital, will make a public presentation to Yellowknife city councillors today at noon, after its initial plan was quickly dismissed following a relatively short debate last month. 

Though the agenda for today's hastily convened follow-up meeting mentions nothing more than "a presentation from Clark Builders regarding a temporary work camp," the fact that the company is presenting to city councillors suggests it's still hoping to put a camp within city limits. 

Several possible locations have been floated, say councillors; they include the area behind the city's Multiplex and Fieldhouse, and an area on Taltheilei Drive off the Dehcho Boulevard (the bypass road inside the Engle Business District meant to divert commercial trucks from some of Yellowknife's busiest roads).

The viability of the latter location is unclear, however. Mayor Mark Heyck has said that bylaws would likely prevent a camp from being placed in the district because of the presence of a nearby tank farm.    

Clark Builders refused to comment on its plans or presentation. 

What about the Dettah option? 

Today's presentation is on the heels of recent talks between Clark Builders and Det'on Cho Corporation, the business arm of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, about putting the camp outside city limits in a clearing just off the road to Dettah, about 10 kilometres outside Yellowknife.  

Last week, Bob Murphy, who runs the corporation, said he was confident a deal would be signed.

But when reached later in the week, after word of today's council presentation first emerged, he said he understood why Clark Builders needs to keep its options open.

Deneen Everett, executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, hopes the camp ends up within the city limits.

"If we move the camp too far out of Yellowknife, the economic opportunities for restaurants and retailers will be missed," she said.

And there are opportunities, says city councillor Niels Konge.

"Are they going to go out to get a beer on a Friday night?" he said of camp residents. "Yeah, there's a good chance that they might to do that every now and then."

But Konge, who owns his own construction company and has lived inside construction camps, was quick to qualify his comment.

"Do I think it's going to be some drug-fuelled, drunken, who-knows-what-all camp? I absolutely do not believe that at all.

"This is a health care facility. They are not hiring Joe Blo off the street to be doing speciality work. The people who are coming up here to do that are professionals. They're highly skilled, usually in speciality trades. They're not coming up here to party. They're coming up here to work, to earn a good living for their family that lives somewhere else."

Hospital builder under financial pressure

Clark Builders has had to go back to the drawing board because its first plan — to house workers inside the Kam Lake Industrial Centre — was nixed by councillors after fierce objections from residents who live in the neighbourhood directly beside the centre.

Clark Builders is under financial pressure now to find a new location for the camp.

Dave Brothers, the company's vice president of Northern operations, told city councillors that without a camp "we could not build the hospital in the timeline that's required to build it."

The N.W.T. government expects construction on the hospital to be completed in 2018.

"There are penalties in place if the project is not delivered on time, so there is a lot of interest on the proponents' side to meet the deadline," Andrew Livingstone, a senior cabinet communications advisor, has said on Twitter.

Residents and councillors said they felt blindsided by the initial Kam Lake plan.

"People feel like they weren't let known this info soon enough," said Councillor Steve Payne.

Today's special meeting at city hall — which was confirmed by the city last Wednesday — is open to the public and begins at 12:05 p.m.