School staff don’t like Iqaluit’s Joamie subdivision proposal

Mélodie Simard, the City of Iqaluit’s director of planning, at a meeting May 11, explains the three “concepts” for a proposed new subdivision on empty land near Joamie School. (FILE PHOTO)

A subdivision that the City of Iqaluit proposes for land near Joamie elementary school drew criticism from school staff attending a public consultation meeting on the project May 11 at the Arctic Winter Games arena.

Among their list of grievances: the risk of additional traffic, which they believe is already at dangerous levels even without the proposed development.

The subdivision would add about 50 to 95 new housing units, depending on the design concept adopted.

“There is an immense amount of congestion near the school [already],” said Joamie principal Sonja Lonsdale.

Mélodie Simard, the city’s director of planning, introduced three concepts for the new subdivision, which cuts through the undeveloped land behind the school’s parking lot.

Depending on the concept ultimately chosen, the subdivision would contain a mix of medium and low-density housing.

The medium density zones, located closer to the school, would allow for the development of four-plex and row housing.

But Lonsdale said she is wary of the additional foot traffic coming to and from Joamie.

“We’ve already had near misses,” Lonsdale said of Joamie’s chaotic parking lot, where buses and single vehicles drop children off at the school.

Several participants recommended the city consider installing a fence separating the school from the subdivision’s access road.

“I think there’s a dire need for private home ownership,” said one attendee, who supported a concept for the subdivision that contained more single dwelling lots.

Lonsdale worries that the additional families moving into the area would cause an influx of new students to Joamie school, which she said is already nearing capacity.

“Our community is growing… and part of this is to address overcrowding,” Simard responded, adding that the new units would potentially free up overcrowding elsewhere, but not necessarily introduce new families to the city.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean more people in Iqaluit, its just redistribution of our population,” she said.

The subdivision is also one of the few financially feasible projects remaining for the city, she added.

Other more ambitious developments — like a new subdivision near the Road to Nowhere — are impossible for the city to finance at this time, Simard said.

“We don’t have the financial means, so we’re trying to find out different options. So they’re smaller options,” she said.

The subdivision has the advantage of being near the city’s utilidor, Simard explained, and won’t add to an already overburdened trucked water delivery and sewage pump-out system.

“It’s the only area I can think of that doesn’t need a booster station,” Simard said.

Simard reminded attendees that the development is still in its preliminary stages and the area will first need to be rezoned from the institutional to residential category by Iqaluit’s city council.

A public hearing would then be scheduled for residents to formally submit their views.

“There is nothing set in stone yet,” she said.

Simard said that city administration has an obligation to address housing in Iqaluit.

“We haven’t created new lots in basically five years,” Simard said.

As for a timeline of construction, Simard explained that the city would ideally like to have the rezoning completed in 2016, with construction beginning the following year.

Before that time, the city will invite Iqalungmiut to a public hearing on the issue at Iqaluit’s city council chambers.