Yellowknife eyes residential, commercial development for Frame Lake area

Yellowknife city council is laying the groundwork for the potential development of 41 hectares of land on Frame lake. 

Council considered a plan in committee Monday to start the process to acquire land from the Northwest Territories government. If that happens it would pave the way for residential and commercial development. 

"The idea is that it would be a mix of commercial on the westerly side, with residential through to the highway that we currently have there," said Charlsey White, Yellowknife's director of planning and development.

But several steps must happen before any construction can begin. First, the city council will need to move to acquire the land from the territorial government. 

White said it could be six months to a year before the N.W.T. government decides on the land transfer. 

Then, the area would need a community plan amendment, rezoning, an area development plan and a subdivision plan.

"From acquisition through to a final disposition of lots that we create, you could be looking at about two years," White said. 

The type of housing in the area would be determined by the housing needs assessment the city conducted last year, which highlighted the need for more one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as three- and four-bedroom dwellings.

Much like the current application to rezone part of Willow Flats, any potential development would be preceded by a public consultation. White said that would "probably take about six months from that time to have something available to put out to the public."

The parcel of land includes the popular Frame Lake Trail. The memo only highlighted the land to be acquired and did not include any plans to parcel for development. 

The city does not currently have a policy to compensate for the loss of green space to residential development. 

"There's some feedback we've received about some of these land acquisitions which is great and fair," said Coun. Rob Warburton during the meeting. "However, we don't get to do anything about that unless we own the land."

Mayor Ben Hendriksen welcomed the prospect of more land acquisition by the city to go along with plans to increase density on vacant and underused lots owned by the city.

"Yes, intensification first is a priority of the city and council," he said. "But intensification first does not mean intensification only."

The memo received support from the governance and priorities committee and will go to council for approval later. Council will then be asked to adopt a by-law authorizing the land acquisition.