Iqaluit council struggles with third phase of Plateau

Two incomplete houses in Phase 2 of the Plateau Subdivision are covered in snow Feb. 9. Iqaluit city council voted this past Sunday to go ahead with Phase 3 this summer, at a cost of $5.7 million. (PHOTO BY CHRIS WINDEYER)

Construction of Phase 3 of the Plateau subdivision in Iqaluit will go ahead this summer, but it’s still uncertain how many lots will be subject to tougher environmental standards.

At a rare Sunday meeting Feb. 7, Iqaluit City Council approved the $5.7 million development, which will include 32 lots for single-family homes, 20 medium density lots for apartment buildings, one lot for a residential cluster and a playground.

But some councillors were reluctant to pass the plan, because of the relatively low share of properties that will be subject to energy efficient R-2000 building standards.

“I don’t want to end up in 15 years with a subdivision that’s behind the times,” said Coun. Romeyn Stevenson.

Seven single-family lots in a block near the centre of the project were to be classified as R-2000 properties.

But that figure wasn’t enough to satisfy most councillors.

“The city should be setting the lead” requiring homes to be more energy efficient, said Coun. Mat Knickelbein.

Michele Bertol, the city’s director of planning and lands agreed, but said home buyers and contractors don’t want to build R-2000 homes because they’re more expensive up-front, despite long-term energy savings.

“It was a job and a half” to convince people to take R-2000 lots in the first two phases of the Plateau. The city also has a lack of contractors who are certified to build R-2000 homes as well as people who are qualified to inspect them.

As a result, the city had to reduce the number of planned R-2000 lots with every new phase of the development.

Bertol said the original plan for Phase 3 called for 10 single-family homes and 11 medium-density lots to meet the standard.

So council will meet again this month to determine exactly how many lots in the new section will be required to meet R-2000 standards.

Councillors voted 6-1 in favour of the amended plan, with Coun. Mary Wilman against and Coun. Natsiq Alainga-Kango absent.

Wilman said the city is building too many medium-density lots.

And she specifically objected to a section along the future Qaujisarvik Road that will see medium-density properties on the side of the road facing the city and in front of single-family homes.

“What we’re developing today is not attractive,” Wilman said.

But Bertol said the development is constrained by a 30-metre setback from a nearby stream. The only lots that would fit that space are for single-family homes, she said.

And because the city needs to sell 70 per cent of the phase’s lots to recoup its costs, it’s important to maximize the number of housing units on the land available, Bertol added in an interview. “The land dictates what will happen.”

The Phase 3 plan will also connect existing roads in the Plateau with the existing Upper Base Road.