City of Yellowknife doubles down on Niven daycare rejection, citing traffic and safety issues

The City of Yellowknife is defending its decision not to approve a non-profit's application to turn a home in the Niven neighbourhood into a daycare, saying that safety is its top priority. 

Stephen Van Dine, Yellowknife's city manager, said Wednesday there was "no glee being taken" in rejecting the YWCA N.W.T.'s application to turn 101 Haener Drive into a daycare with space for 32 children. 

But, he said, the location has a number of safety considerations that need to be addressed. 

The home is on a corner of Haener, where it meets with both Moyle Drive and Driscoll Road. A city planning report said the spot has limited visibility, limited parking, and is "inherently unsafe" because it doesn't have a crosswalk. 

For those reasons, Van Dine said that the city was standing behind its decision. 

"We're very supportive of daycare and we've supported residential conversions to daycares in other parts of the city," he said. "This particular application just fell short of some of the safety concerns that we were able to identify."

The report also said that the daycare would conflict with the city's community plan and zoning bylaw. 

Van Dine said the city was "very happy" to keep working with the YWCA, whether it chose to carry out a traffic study at the same spot or consider other options. 

Next step: traffic study

Hawa Dumbuya-Sesay, the executive director of the YWCA N.W.T., said Thursday that her organization was planning to move forward with a traffic study at 101 Haener. 

That's a report that looks at the number and the type of vehicles being used in a particular area, as well as what might happen to that traffic if a change is made to a building's purpose. It would also make recommendations to make the area safer. 

Van Dine said the city is not singling the YWCA out with this request – proponents in other parts of the city are asked to do the same thing when they want to change the use of a space. He called it an "accepted planning and engineering technique." 

Van Dine also said the proponent – in this case the YWCA – would be on the hook for making recommended changes because it's the one interested in turning the home into a daycare. 

"It's not a change of use being presented by the city," he pointed out. 

Advocate suggests ways to make area safer

Adam Denley, a cycling and transit advocate in Yellowknife, said although he understands concerns about traffic in the area, the city's decision to reject the YWCA's application is both frustrating and confusing. 

"The city in its response or denial of the application has stated outright that this intersection is inherently dangerous. They know it's a problem," he said. "So I feel as though they should be doing their own traffic study and they should be looking for ways to adapt that." 

Denley also had no shortage of ideas about what the city could do to improve traffic flow in the area, and to make parents and their children more safe while dropping kids off. 

One option would be to add a raised crosswalk in front of the home, which would act like a gentle speed bump to calm traffic and also help people to cross from the proposed daycare to the community garden and playground across the street. 

The city could also make Moyle Drive, or the loop made up by Haener Drive, Driscoll Road and Deweerdt Drive, flow in one direction. Or, the Cornerstone Church down the road could be approached about whether its parking lot could be used as a place for parents to park. 

"It would be an absolutely perfect location for this neighbourhood except for the presence of cars," said Denley, pointing out the home's location in the heart of a residential neighbourhood and its proximity to a community garden and playground across the street.

"We're letting cars get in our own way," he said. 

But not everyone sees it that way. 

The planning document also contains feedback from a handful of people living within 30 metres of the home. Nearly all of them had concerns with the YWCA's plan.

One said that a daycare would "create a great deal of congestion on an already uncontrolled and busy corner and intersection," while another said the congestion would be "horrendous and very dangerous." 

There were also questions about where the seven staff members would park and how pick up and drop offs would be done without blocking neighbouring driveways. 

Lessons learned

Dumbuya-Sesay told CBC News earlier this week that her organization started working on the project in July 2023. She said they first learned about the traffic and safety issues this past September, and she wishes the city had flagged those concerns earlier. 

Van Dine said the initial application the city received from the YWCA in January had been incomplete. When it received a complete application in July, he was confident all the concerns were listed though he wasn't sure "to what extent" transit issues were discussed. 

Van Dine would not say what it would take for the city to approve a daycare at 101 Haener Drive. 

Asked what the city might have done differently in regards to the YWCA's application, Van Dine said it underscored the importance of giving people "all the information that they need" when they file an application.