Lower base residents rebel against Town utilidor plan

MICHAELA RODRIGUE
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — A plan by the Town to get residents and a developer to pay the full cost of connecting their homes to a new utilidor line stinks, say Iqaluit’s lower base residents.

Homeowners in Iqaluit’s lower base area have been told they must hook up to a new utilidor system within the next three years.

They are expected to pay the full cost of installing connection pipes from their homes to the Town’s main utilidor lines — even where the connection lines extend beyond their property lines.

In the past, Iqaluit homeowners have been required only to pay the cost of utilidor connection lines from the edge of their property lines to the inside of their homes.

Residents say other Canadian municipalities cover the cost of sewer and water connection pipes up to each homeowner’s property line, and they say that Iqaluit should do the same.

“All I want them to do is make sure the municipality is abiding by the standards of any other municipality in Canada,” said John Manning, who owns one of 61 units in Iqaluit’s lower base.

“I’m on municipal land. Why should I pay for 1,000 feet of pipe to get from the mains to my property line?”

One estimate said Manning would have to pay $15,000 to hook his house up to the utilidor.

He doesn’t know how much he’d save if the Town paid the cost of installing pipes up to his property line, but he said he’s not willing to pay the difference.

Manning now hopes to form a committee of residents to force city hall to pick up the tab.

Manning, and other property owners, say that parts of the Town’s own bylaw states that the municipality should foot the bill for utilidor connection pipes all the way to the homeowner’s property line.

Urbco Inc. owns parts of three affected properties within the lower base area. It recently notified the Town that it would not hook its buildings up to the utilidor unless the municipality covers its fair share of the cost.

“The suggestion that the homeowner should pay from the vault to the building results in gross inequities. Costs will be cheaper for those homeowners on the side of the street the vault and line is on, and much higher for those on the opposite side of the street,” said Kenn Harper, Urbco’s vice-president of Nunavut properties, in a letter to the municipality.

Urbco’s properties are across the street from the main lines, increasing its cost. Harper does not know exactly how much extra the pipe will cost him.

Harper said he does not want to spearhead a tax revolt, but some members of the neighbourhood are aware of his letter.

“I’m simply making available the information on which we made our decision. By any stretch of the imagination I’m not leading some revolt,” Harper said.

The Town counters that its bylaw in fact requires homeowners to pay for all piping to the main, said Denis Bedard, Iqaluit’s director of engineering.

Bedard estimates it would cost the Town $750,000 to provide piping to each homeowner’s property line, and he said that would likely require an increase in taxes.

“The position is quite clear that they have three years to connect,” Bedard said.

Manning and Harper plan to go to Iqaluit Town Council in the fall to contest the bylaw. They hope the bylaw will be clarified and the Town will cover the extra costs. The current bylaw is about 10 years old.

Manning is also suggesting residents of the lower base area band together and buy the necessary supplies to hook up in bulk after the issue is resolved.

But Manning and Harper’s decision to fight the Town means they will miss their chance to hook up to the utilidor at the cheapest possible moment.

The Town is telling property owners it’s cheaper to hook up this month while the pipes are still exposed. But if residents wait to contest the bylaw, the pipes will be covered over.

Both Harper and Manning say that if they win the dispute, they expect the Town to cover the extra cost of digging up the pipes.

The Town decided to install utilidor service to the neighbourhood as Urbco erects a new executive suites hotel behind Iqaluit House.

Urbco is paying some of the cost of the new pipes, but Harper said Urbco did not force the new utilidor system on lower base residents.

“We’re paying the cost of the Town bringing the line along a certain route to service our new property. Coincidentally that causes the line to run in a certain way that will mean a number of other houses get hooked up,” Harper said.

It costs the Town four cents for every liter of fluid it trucks to residents of the lower base. Piped service is expected to cut that cost down to one cent per liter.

But the switch to piped sewage and water will not cut costs for homeowners. Hooking up to the water and sewage main is estimated to cost between $15,000 to $20,000 per house. The Town says it plans to cease truck service to the area after three years.