Spa fight takes ugly turn at Iqaluit council

Iqaluit’s long-running Tundra Valley spa saga led to open warfare at Iqaluit City Council this past Tuesday, with Coun. Stuart Kennedy and some other Iqaluit residents on one side, and the rest of council, the city’s administration, and the city’s lawyers on the other.

During a protracted discussion, Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik tried, with difficulty, to maintain a harmonious atmosphere.

“To me it’s not about a fight. I don’t use fighting words,” Sheutiapik said.

The spa business, operated by Carole Collin out of house 2628 in Tundra Valley since about May of 2004, has been dogged by controversy for months. Last fall, some disgruntled neighbours and competing business people complained to council that such a business should not be allowed to operate in a residential area.

But in the latest turn of events, city councillors, with the exception of Coun. Stuart Kennedy, say they will stand behind a unanimous decision to oppose a ruling by the city’s Development Appeal Board that could have put Collin out of business.

Kennedy, the chair of the Development Appeal Board, does not support that council position. But he could not attend the Feb. 22 council meeting because of health reasons.

And the motion to challenge the appeal board ruling has enraged Kennedy, along with two of Collin’s neighbours, Mike Rizzi and Frank Cunha, who allege that it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“Now you’re taking taxpayers’ money, which the city does not have, to pursue it,” Rizzi said.

Appearing as a delegation near the start of a city council meeting this past Tuesday, Rizzi said the city should put Collin out of business immediately, and that if they don’t: “I will fight it. I will pursue it.”

And Kennedy backed him up, saying the spa should be closed until after the latest appeal is heard.

Rizzi and some other residents opposed to the spa took little notice of the business when it first opened.

But when an advertisement announcing a “grand opening” appeared in Nunatsiaq News last fall, they complained that a business located in a residential area violates the city’s zoning bylaw.

After hearing those complaints, council passed a motion granting a development permit to Collin’s business, subject to certain conditions.

Kennedy and other members of the Development Appeal Board decided to overturn that motion in a ruling issued Feb. 10. But because the city has decided to appeal the appeal board’s decision, Collin’s business continues to operate.

In an interview before the start of the meeting, Coun. Nancy Gillis explained that council conditions, which allow home-based businesses to operate, are set out in the city’s zoning bylaw.

“We’re simply going by the bylaw,” Gillis says in explaining council’s position. It was Gillis who moved the Feb. 22 motion to challenge the appeal board ruling, a motion that was seconded by the former deputy mayor, Chris Wilson.

The main conditions in the bylaw are:

* no more than 25 per cent of the home’s floor space may be taken up by the business;
* the home-based business may not use more than three parking spaces;
* if it’s in an a trucked-service area, the home business must limit its use of water;
* the home-based business may not display a prominent sign, or offer goods for retail sale.

A council motion, made last fall, gave a development permit to Collin’s business setting out those conditions.

But Rizzi and his allies then took their case to the appeal board, which ruled in their favour.

Sheutiapik, in an interview before the meeting, and in comments made to council this past Tuesday, suggested that the Development Appeal Board went too far.

She said the city must challenge the ruling, to prevent many home-based businesses from being extinguished.

That’s because, in its ruling, the appeal board interpreted the bylaw to mean that only activities related to “the traditional way of life” should be part of home-based businesses.

“Do you realize how many home-based businesses would be affected if we’re talking about that section?” Sheutiapik asked Rizzi.

Coun. Glenn Williams said city council has “many questions” about the appeal board ruling, and wants to find out if it’s legal.

In the wake of the spa controversy, about half a dozen other home-based businesses in Tundra Valley have been brought before city council to be considered for development permits.

Most are small one-person businesses offering consulting, translation and other professional services. Ironically, Rizzi’s own home-based business is one of them.

Another complicating factor is that the appeal board’s ruling is highly critical of how city staff handled the process.

The board found that they issued Collin a business licence in May without checking to see if she had a development permit. At the time, there was no director of economic development at the city, and no one familiar with what’s involved in the issuance of business licences.

Sheutiapik suggested that the appeal board may have gone beyond its mandate by delving into personnel issues.

Later in the meeting, in one of five angry statements, Kennedy alleged that council’s real motive for challenging his appeal board ruling is to “cover up the fact that somebody screwed up.”