Iqaluit council OKs rezoning, height restriction bylaws
Development of open areas in Tundra Ridge, Tundra Valley drew opposition from residents over summer
This open space in Iqaluit’s Tundra Ridge neighbourhood, seen in a July file photo, is one of the areas city councillors voted Tuesday to redesignate as a residential community in the city’s general plan. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Iqaluit council passed five bylaws Tuesday that will allow homes to be built in the Tundra Valley and Tundra Ridge areas, increase height limits in the city’s core and pave the way for a new subdivision on QIA lands near the Aqsarniit hotel.
Two of them relate to a pair of hotly contested open lands in the Tundra Valley and Tundra Ridge areas.
The first of those amends the city’s general plan to redesignate the areas from open space to residential community.
The second amends the city’s zoning bylaw, redesignating the lands from being open area zones to being low-density residential zones, with water and sewage provided by trucked services.
Over the summer, several area residents wrote to the city expressing concerns about the proposed bylaws.
Residents questioned how future neighbourhood and housing developments will impact the views from their homes, and the impact of a loss of greenspaces and ATV trails.
Councillors at the time emphasized the need for more housing in Iqaluit, including single-family homes.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Coun. Romeyn Stevenson said he has been hesitant about expanding trucked water services. But the land that council rezoned and redesignated will be great locations for new housing, he added.
“We’re assured from staff that they have the capacity to deal with additional lots on trucked service, but trucked service costs the city in other ways as well, and so it’s always a toss-up in my mind,” Stevenson said.
“But in general, I’m excited that that third reading passed because we need to be able to build new houses and this is a place that we can do it.”
Three other bylaws were approved Tuesday.
One allows for increased building heights in various lots in Iqaluit’s downtown core.
That bylaw originated in the planning and development committee in April and allows for denser housing construction in the most central parts of the city.
Two other bylaws amends the city’s general plan to redesignate an open space near the Aqsarniit hotel as core area and rezone the area as municipal reserve land, land the city is setting aside for possible future development.
That area is where Qikiqtani Inuit Association is leading the development of a new subdivision. Whether that subdivision would be for homes or businesses and how many buildings it would have has not been decided yet.
I am once again asking for your consideration of a subdivision in the 100+ acres of land south of the Road to Apex, east of AWG, west of Apex, and north of the trail to Apex. If there is something fundamentally wrong with this area, I will leave it alone. Until I hear otherwise, I will continue to advocate for this parcel of land to be developed rather than the <10 acres of slopey spring-drainage sinkhole that separates Tundra Ridge and Tundra Valley.
Useless city council, the residents have spoken, but you decide to go against the same people who voted you in! And yes why not the parcel of land next to AWG?
Greedy homeowners don’t want their pretty view to include new homes for people in a community with a massive housing shortage. Pure contempt for society if they protest more housing.
Poor Nathan Obed will have his million dollars view blocked 😭😭
Hey “What a Bunch of Jerks” I am pretty sure that any development that goes in below Tundra Ridge will have zero impact on the sight lines for existing houses unless the plan allows for multi-story development which would be inconsistent with adjacent land uses. Any time a city decides to eliminate protected green space/public spaces they are making a decision that will irrevocably and negatively affect the quality of life of all Iqalummiut. There are plenty of places in Iqaluit that can be redeveloped for residential development without taking out massive swathes of what is essentially park land. But hey, why let the facts get in the way of a good diatribe right?
Exactly this, the view is not much affected. Why does the city wants to build houses on top of each other? There is a large parcel of land right by AWG that can be developed for housing. Single family homes? This is going to be another mistake like the one by Joamie court where it is mainly staff housing, they are still single family homes but it is used for staff housing! Leave the greenspace alone and build it elsewhere!
I look forward to building my 5 story home in front of your house.
Do you mean like on the lower plateau and the new NCC buildings?
Me too. Unironically.
Housing is more important than my view.
Why frame it like an either or though? It’s not like this is the only place in town where new homes can be built.
There is room for everybody for a view, a backyard, a proper driveway for boats, Hondas, cars, and trucks, a shelter, an apartment building, green space, ski-doo trails, cross-country skiing trails, walking paths, parks, and everything else we could need. Space is the biggest asset here. Why do we always try to put people over each other? For gentrification? Create some public transportation options instead.