{"id":133925,"date":"2025-09-10T14:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T14:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/133925\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T14:33:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T14:33:14","slug":"72-unit-housing-block-may-never-open-if-hydrant-mix-up-isnt-solved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/133925\/","title":{"rendered":"72-unit housing block may never open if hydrant mix-up isn\u2019t solved"},"content":{"rendered":"

A downtown Yellowknife housing development appears incapable of opening because the owners can\u2019t afford a required fire hydrant vault.<\/p>\n

Borealis Development, which transformed the vacant Bellanca office building into 72 housing units known as The Nest, carried out that refit without realizing a hydrant vault was needed.<\/p>\n

A vault is a mostly buried, separate structure that accommodates quick access to a water main. It\u2019s considered one of the most reliable ways to deliver a constant supply of water to city firefighters in an emergency.<\/p>\n

\"TheWork in progress to transform the Bellanca building into The Nest in April 2024. Sarah Pruys\/Cabin Radio<\/p>\n

Borealis has been told installing a vault will cost $750,000 but says it has no money left and can\u2019t find anyone else prepared to invest that sum. <\/p>\n

Since July<\/a>, the company has been asking the City of Yellowknife to pay for most of the costs instead.<\/p>\n

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A vault could cost much less than $750,000 \u2013 estimates drop as low as $300,000 according to documents associated with council discussions \u2013 but city councillors appear unwilling to hand over that much taxpayer money. <\/p>\n

Multiple councillors say other developers, who understood the rules, paid for hydrant vaults themselves, and treating Borealis differently would set an unwanted precedent.<\/p>\n

Council has yet to formally vote on giving Borealis any cash. If the vote is a no, which appears likely, it\u2019s unclear how the building\u2019s 72 units will ever open. Officials can\u2019t allow occupancy to go ahead if The Nest doesn\u2019t meet requirements.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, lawyer Scott Parker \u2013 representing Borealis \u2013 told council on Monday that the vacant building is costing Borealis \u201cover $150,000 a month in taxes, utilities and interest, and those bills are piling up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is urgent. Borealis can\u2019t keep going much longer without getting the building occupied,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n

But Steve Payne summed up the mood of councillors present when he said: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s on city staff to, for lack of a better term, hold the hand of a developer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Excruciating archaeological dig\u2019<\/p>\n

The road to this point was complicated.<\/p>\n

Turning the vacant Bellanca office block into an apartment building has taken Borealis years and a lot of money, which itself took a long time to find through financing.<\/p>\n

Borealis maintains that when it drew up its plans for the refit that turned the building into The Nest, the requirement for a hydrant vault didn\u2019t exist. That was added in a city bylaw<\/a> that came into effect in 2022.<\/p>\n

However, financing for the work didn\u2019t come through until 2023 and stamped drawings weren\u2019t submitted to the city until December that year \u2013 by which point the requirement for a hydrant vault had been on the city\u2019s books for months.<\/p>\n

Borealis says its experts had multiple conversations with city staff, like planners and fire hall representatives, but still weren\u2019t aware of the requirement. City staff have suggested that developers have an obligation to, in city manager Stephen Van Dine\u2019s words, carry out their own technical work \u201cadequately and competently.\u201d<\/p>\n

That has left council carrying out what Mayor Ben Hendriksen termed an \u201cexcruciating archaeological dig\u201d to determine who knew what and when, in an attempt to establish which party dropped the ball.<\/p>\n

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Parker, who said his client Borealis didn\u2019t fully comprehend the hydrant vault requirement until February 2024, said City Hall covering 75 percent of the vault\u2019s cost \u201cwould be a real win for opening The Nest\u201d and would get critical new housing on the market in the quickest possible time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t figure out some kind of a solution, then The Nest is going to sit there and it\u2019s going to be empty and unused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The building does have a wall hydrant, a different type of installation that\u2019s housed within the structure. The city doesn\u2019t like them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve experienced in the city over the past couple of decades is facilities that have had wall hydrants installed are also the buildings that are on fire,\u201d public safety director Craig MacLean bluntly told councillors.<\/p>\n

Borealis appears to have installed a wall hydrant even though it knew the city didn\u2019t think that was adequate. Parker said that was a recent \u201cextra effort to be in compliance\u201d and Borealis themselves called it a \u201csecondary measure.\u201d <\/p>\n

How councillors felt<\/p>\n

Van Dine asked council to focus on the narrow question of whether or not to help pay for the hydrant vault. Councillors, though, spent more than an hour trying to establish how much due diligence Borealis had done and what kind of precedent might be set. <\/p>\n

Van Dine noted multiple downtown developments had gone ahead in the past few years with developers shouldering the cost of hydrant vaults.<\/p>\n

Councillor Tom McLennan floated a form of deal whereby Borealis would increase the number of units considered \u201caffordable\u201d under federal guidelines \u2013 currently eight of the 72 \u2013 in return for taxpayer assistance, but was told that wasn\u2019t a formal deal the city could strike. (Borealis said it could \u201cdefinitely look at\u201d increasing the share of affordable units.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think in the end,\u201d McLennan said, \u201cit\u2019s on the developer to ensure that they\u2019re covering all their bases.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a meeting where multiple councillors were absent, Cat McGurk agreed with McLennan. \u201cI think it\u2019s very hard for me to support this and set the precedent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t, in good conscience, put Yellowknife taxpayer money toward this development at this time, when we look at what other developers have to do in order to bring projects forward,\u201d Mayor Hendriksen concluded. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just too many unclosed loops around decisions, advice, timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

A formal vote will occur at a future council meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell you what will happen to The Nest if the city says no to this cost-sharing,\u201d Parker told council, trying to change some minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I can tell you what will happen if the city says yes: we\u2019re well on our way to achieving a more vibrant and livable downtown, bringing more units into the Yellowknife rental market, and doing so safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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