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Around Iqaluit
May
12, 2006
Iqaluit this week
Flea market
Saturday, May
13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Francophone Centre. CFRT 107.3 FM is hosting a flea market.
An evening of classical
music
Saturday, May
13, 7:30 p.m. to midnight (adults only after 8:30 p.m.), at the Francophone
Centre. The Iqaluit Music Society presents a Classical Soiree featuring the
Iqaluit Community Choir, the Iqaluit Youth Fiddlers, the Weekend Jazz Ensemble
and more. Admission is free, donations gratefully accepted. All money raised
will go towards this summer's Alianait arts festival. For more info, call Emily
at 979-7266.
High school art show
Wednesday, May
17, 6 to 8 p.m., Inuksuk High School. The senior high students at Inuksuk will
showcase their art work, jewelry and woodworking, free to the public. The home-economics
class will provide refreshments and some items will be available for purchase.
The art, shop, jewelry-making and Inuktitut classes will all participate. For
more information, call Linda Grant at 979-5281.
Upcoming
Spring veterinarian
visit
Thursday, May
25 to Monday, May 29. The Iqaluit Rotary Club offers its twice yearly vet visit.
To book an appointment, call 979-4902 and leave a message. Someone will return
your call to confirm an appointment.
May
12, 2006
Council goes ahead
with bypass road plan
City council is moving
ahead with plans to design a bypass road to cut down on congestion at the Four
Corners.
The proposed road would
pass south of the new Justice building, providing drivers on the ring road with
another route to Federal Road.
This week council awarded
the engineering design contract for the bypass road to TROW Associates Inc.
for $59,400 plus GST.
The city plans to build
the road next summer.
May
12, 2006
Sewage plant needs
more money
The City of Iqaluit is
petitioning the Government of Nunavut for $400,000 a year to operate the city's
new sewage treatment plant.
That money is needed for
the full commissioning, staffing and operation of the plant.
Without the funds, the
city faces some grim choices.
They could increase water
and sewer rates to absorb the $400,000-a-year cost increase. That would be on
top of a recent 5 per cent increase in water and sewer rates.
They could run a deficit
within the public works department, which would amount to $350,000 this year,
because the plant only went online this spring.
Or they could close the
new plant and dump sewage into the existing lagoon, which does not work properly
and washes sewage into the bay after a number of weeks, rather than a number
of months, as it should.
Council approved the idea
of petitioning the GN during a meeting on Tuesday.
May
12, 2006
Cops seize pot from
air cargo
Iqaluit RCMP made two drug
busts recently.
On April 27 police searched
an Iqaluit home and seized one kilogram of marijuana, along with drug-trafficking
paraphernalia and an undisclosed amount of cash they believe to be connected
with trafficking drugs.
Charmaine Hall, 35, faces
charges of a possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
She has been released from custody and is to appear in the Nunavut Court of
Justice on July 3.
On April 28 police searched
the Canadian North cargo building in Iqaluit and seized half a pound of marijuana,
but no charges in connection with the seizure were announced by press-time.
May
5, 2006
Iqaluit this week
High school art show
Wednesday, May 17, 6 to 8 p.m., Inuksuk High School. The
senior high students of Inuksuk will showcase their artwork,
jewelry and woodworking, free to the public. The
home-economics class will provide refreshments and some
items will be available for purchase. The art, shop, jewelrymaking
and Inuktitut classes will all participate. For more
information, call Linda Grant at 979-5281.
May 5, 2006
Plywood patches up AWG arena
Iqaluit’s Arctic Winter Games Arena has a new floor. You may not be able to skate on it, but it’s good enough for bingo.
Plywood planks now cover up the gaping hole in the rink surface, which was dug up to get a better look at the building’s waterlogged foundation.
The temporary fix costs $31,600. The city has applied to use $9,000 from the $100,000 in Community Initiatives Programs funding they are eligible to receive each year.
“We can have bingo and rent the space out. It’s a small price to pay,” said Kim Rizzi, the city’s economic development officer.
The Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce picked up the rest of the cost, mostly through in-kind labour provided by its members, according to Rizzi.
A permanent fix is expected to cost $750,000, according to consultants hired by the city.
That would involve building a new foundation supported by metal posts. The building rests on a soupy mess of mud and rock, which has caused it to sink unevenly for years.
May 5, 2006
More chip-seal paving to come
This summer the City of Iqaluit plans to continue paving city streets using a technique called chip-sealing.
Nearly three kilometres of road will be newly paved this summer, according to the city’s plans. That includes picking up where work ended last year on Apex Road and paving 750 metres further, to Apex Bridge.
The city also plans to pave Bypass Road, better known as “Washboard Hill,” producing a stretch more than two kilometres long between Apex Road and the Ring Road.
Work this year is expected to cost $1 million. The bulk of that — $782,700 — is paid by the Government of Nunavut, while the City of Iqaluit will pay the rest.
Chip-sealing involves laying down a thin layer of asphalt and water followed by a layer of gravel, which is then rolled flat. It costs about half as much as conventional paving.
Council approved plans to tender the contract for this work at an April 11 meeting.
May 5, 2006
City sells IODE Hall and Butler Building
The City of Iqaluit has sold off two historical buildings to be demolished: the IODE Hall in Apex, and the last remaining Butler building, found behind the Capital Suites near Iqaluit’s downtown.
Qudliq Investments purchased the IODE Hall and the property it stands on for $5,000. The company plans to demolish the building and build two 1,600 square foot houses on the lot during the summer of 2007.
The Imperial Order of the Daughters of Empire built the hall during the late 1950s or early 1960s. It served as a community hall for many years, until the Abe Okpik Hall replaced it during the late 1990s. Since then the building has sat unused.
Qudliq Investments also purchased the Butler Building and the property it sits on, for $81,500. The company plans to build in its place a two-story building, zoned for commercial space on the bottom floor and holding two bedroom apartments or condominiums on the top. Construction for that project is also scheduled for the summer of 2007.
The Butler Building is among the last of many prefab buildings like it brought to Iqaluit by the United States Air Force during the 1950s. Originally used as military barracks, the building was later used as staff housing for the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Butler Building is currently used by the city as archive space.
The city received two proposals to turn the Butler Building into a historic site, but city staff dismissed these plans because their proponents offered no money for the building and property.
The city’s insurance premiums have risen in recent years because these old buildings were considered high-risk liabilities.
No bids were received to purchase the air base garage near the Four Corners.
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