It’s waterfront living, sort of

Iqaluit council has been asked to approve a subdivision development on Toonik Pond which would add 90 residential lots and 40 mixed-use residential-commercial lots to the municipality’s scant supply of land for housing.

The recommendation came this week from the engineering and planning committee after a discussion on whether it would be feasible, given the shortage of flat land to build on in Iqaluit, to just go ahead and fill up Toonik Pond.

That suggestion came from Coun. Glenn Williams, who said he thought the pond was artificial and resulted from excavation for an old quarry.

But Michele Bertol, director of planning and land, said the pond was, in fact, a natural feature and filling it in would cost too much to make it worthwhile for building lots.