Road plans revealed, residential zoning approved for Iqaluit's Joamie Court subdivision

Some parents and school officials in Iqaluit say the plan for anewsubdivision in the city includes a road that's too close to an elementary school.

The latest plan,complete with road details and traffic direction,was revealed Tuesdayduring a public hearing held before the city council meeting. About a dozen people many of them parents were at the hearing to voice their concerns.

The JoamieCourt subdivision would have oneroad running through it, connecting to the road to Apex on either end, with one of those connections coming out right next to Joamie Elementary School.

Iqaluit'sDistrictEducation Authority feels itcannot"support any plan that brings additional traffic past the school.

"We just don't feel it's safe for the students there," said AndreaWitzaney-Chown, vice chair of the authority.

The issue was up for debate at a city council meeting that followed the hearing, as councillors had to vote on rezoning the area from "public institutional and open space" to "residential land."

Councillorsvoted "yes" to the change.

Barry Cornthwaite, manager of capital planning for Nunavut's department of education, says city officials aren't considering everything they need to when it comes to building more than 40new homes.

"The department is concerned about health and safety of the children and staff and the increase in traffic will definitely have an adverse affect on the safety of the students going to that school," said Cornthwaite.

'You'll have 60 other families'

The plan for the subdivisionincludes 24 to 26 semi-detached or single homes as well as 15 to 30 stacked townhouses.

City planners expect the residents in the subdivision to have a maximum of 56 cars. A traffic study predicted the worst time of day would be at the end of the lunch hour.

Thatstudy didn't take into account Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada's planto build a 60-space daycare at the end of the subdivision.

Thatcauses another concern for Cornthwaite.

"So you not only have an increase of lots, you'll have 60 other families... basically dropping off theirchildren in the morning and the evening and picking them up at lunch for lunch hour, so that would also have a significant increase in traffic to the area," he said.

Representatives from the city's education authority, as well as the territory's education department, want a cul-de-sac built at the end of the road closest to the school.

City officials say this could cause traffic snarls for the section of the road that leads to the road to Apex.