Short Summary of History of Northlands Trailer Park (now Condo Corp #8)
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The situation the Northlands Condo Corporation finds itself in has a
long history, going back to the early 1970s. What follows is a short
chronology.
1971: The City of Yellowknife received ownership of the property which
Northland Trailer Park is located from the Commissioner of the
Northwest Territories.
NOTE: Over the time period of 1971 to March 1990, the various lots of
land which make up the present piece of land now known as Northlands
Condominium Corporation were registered.
July 12, 1971: Northland Development, represented by its president Al
Marceau, enters into an agreement with the City for development of a
mobile home park. The agreement is that the City would transfer land
for this purpose to Northland Development, except for the roads in the
engineering plan which wouldn't be transferred to Northland Development
until they were up to standards.
Also on July 12, 1971: Bylaw No. 1013, called the Airport Road Mobile
Home Park Agreement Bylaw, received first, second and third reading and
was passed.
Bylaw No. 1013 set out specifications and schedules for completion of
roads, water and sewer lines, sidewalks, curbs, walkways, street signs,
electrical and telephone lines, street lighting etc. in the trailer
park.
The Bylaw also stipulated that the City would not accept the various
components of the infrastructure until and unless the works were
completed to the satisfaction of the Superintendent). When the City
was satisfied that the works were completed satisfactorily, it would
sell title to the land to Northland Development for $50,000. Once the
trailer park was completed, it would give notice to owners of trailers
on unauthorized lots that they had to move their trailers to authorized
permanent sites such as this.
July 12, 1971: City passes Airport Mobile Home Park Agreement bylaw,
which agreement states that $25,000 performance bond from Northland
Development shall be held until final acceptance of the work to be
done in the trailer park, and that this money is required to cover
maintenance and warranty commitments.
September 15, 1971: 75 trailer lots to be ready for renting, according
to schedule agreed on by City and Northland Development.
October 25, 1971: YK City Council gives first and second reading to a
by-law allowing it to transfer title to Lot 914 in Group 964 to
Northland Development for establishment of what was then known as
Airport Road Mobile Home Park. Alderman Al Marceau, President of
Northland Development, who was also a City Councillor, withdrew from
the voting because of his connection to Northland.
October 25, 1971: Northland Development's lawyer writes City a letter
saying that unless the City releases the title to the roadways to
Northland, they cannot finish the work as the bank won't loan them
money to do so unless they have the title to the roadways.
October 31, 1971: the remainder of lots (as per development plan) to be
available for renting, according to schedule agreed upon by City and
Northland Development.
September 1, 1973: Northland Development, leases Lot 925 of Group 964
from the City of Yellowknife, to be used as rental lots for 25 mobile
home trailer units.
Northland Development agrees to pay the City $750 per year for this
land and proposes to rent the trailer lots at $65 per month.
Northland Development agrees to perform a list of tasks in relation to
the establishment of the trailer park, including the installation of
water meters provided by the City, and to bear the costs of this work.
November 24, 1976: Al Marceau, President of Northland Development and
former City Alderman, writes to City asking for return of the
performance bond, accepting responsibility for all maintenance of
internal roads if they receive title to roads, in lieu of meeting other
obligations of agreement with City.
December 3, 1976: City Works Superintendent writes memo to City
Development Committee recommending release of Northland's performance
bond, as long as Northland agrees to retain responsibility and
maintenance of roads and service mains.
January 24, 1977: Yellowknife City Council agrees to Northland
Development's request for return of the $25,000 performance bond, but
Northland is required to complete the recreational facilities they
proposed to put into the trailer park.
August 9, 1982: City passes Bylaw No. 2753, the Northland Mobile Home
Park Bylaw, which incorporates former, now repealed, bylaws dealing
with the trailer park under its former name(s). Territorial Holdings
Ltd., the owners of the trailer park, agree to provide the City with
plans showing all infrastructure (roads, walkways, water and sewer
lines etc) and to maintain all infrastructure to a standard acceptable
by the City.
June 27, 1983: (See Chart on Page 4 of this summary). Members of the
Northlands Trailer Park Residents Association make a presentation to
City Hall re: their concern with 10.4% rental rate rise for July 1,
1983. They request a one year rent freeze and requirement that
Territorial Holdings complete work they had agreed to in their
agreement with City before being allowed to increase the rent.
Mr. Marceau agreed that if the City would drop its rent control clause
and allow the 10.4% rental increase, Territorial Holdings would
purchase the leased land in the 500 block for $5000 per acre and pave
the road and driveways in 1984. City was to hold the title until the
paving was complete. Marceau also indicated he would install a cable
barrier along Airport Road, install a bulletin board, draw up new park
rules and rental agreements, provide an area for postal boxes, outline
crosswalks and put up crosswalk signs, make a playground (on land
provided by City) and fence it and not raise rents in 1984 more than
the national inflation rate.
Following recommendations of a City Council committee, City Council
agreed to let Territorial Holdings increase the rent by 10.4% as of
October 1, 1983, IF Territorial Holdings completed the improvements
listed in paragraph above.
City also agreed that effective July 1, 1984 the maximum rent increase
couldn't be higher that the previous year's national Consumers Price
Index increase.
Council also agreed that effective June 30, 1985 all rent controls on
Territorial Holdings would cease to exist, if the following items were
completed:
· Pave both road and driveways on the 500 block in the summer of 1984
· Clear, fill, level and put in sand to prepare for a playground on
the 500 block, and put up a chain link fence to enclose the area
June 28, 1985: Territorial Holdings (owner at that time of land
commonly known as Northlands Trailer Park) agrees to allow Jodphur
Holdings, owners of Stanton Village and Village Reddi Mart, to receive
water and sewage service from the water and sewer lines going through
Northlands Trailer Park.
1988: Triple E Developments (Cliff Johnson is half owner) buys
Northlands Trailer Park for maximum of $4,817,640 (source- NWT Lands
and Titles Office).
May 19, 1989: Thomson Underwood McLellan Surveys, acting for Northland
Mobile Home Park Ltd., writes to the Planning and Lands Division of the
City of Yellowknife. They say, among other things, that copies of the
letters sent to all tenants of Northlands to obtain the required
consent of a portion of the tenants to the conversion of Northlands
into a condo and their responses are attached.
July 28, 1989: The City of Yellowknife writes to Thomson Underwood
McLellan Surveys, acting for Northland Trailer Park, telling them that
the City's approval of the application to convert the trailer park into
a bare land condominium would be subject to the City not being
responsible in any way for the maintenance and upkeep of any services,
infrastructure or roadways. Another condition is that all 8 parcels of
land making up the trailer park will be consolidated into one parcel
prior to the creation of the condominium.
September 11, 1989: City adopts its Condominium Subdivision Policy,
with provisions for getting approval from tenants for the formation of
a condominium, including that all tenants must be informed in writing
of the implications of a conversion to a condominium such as the
identification of any known structural or infrastructure deficiencies;
that tenants should respond in writing and have a minimum of one month
and maximum of two months to do so.
September 26, 1989: UMA (Thomson Underwood McLellan Surveys), on
behalf of Northland Mobile Home Park, applies to subdivide the land on
which the trailer park sits into a bareland condominium.
March 23, 1990: Northlands Trailer Park incorporated as a condominium.
March, 1990: Northland Mobile Home Park transfers the residential units
in the trailer park to Triple E Developments and the other land (roads,
playgrounds, storage area, etc.) to Yellowknife Condominium Corporation
No. 8.
May, 1990: Triple E Developments is encouraging people owning trailers
in Northlands to buy into the condominium. Average price is $33,000, so
if all 258 were sold the total selling price would be $8,514,000.
Rental Cost of trailer lots in Northlands
June 1, 1989: $260. per month
July 1, 1989: $275. per month
May 1, 1991: $300. per month
April 1, 1992: $375. per month
October 1, 1992: $415. per month
Northlands Lot Rents Compared to
Statistic Canada's Consumer Price Index for Yellowknife
Year CPI
(1992 baseline) CPI %
Increase over year prior Cumulative
% increase
from 1989 Monthly
Lot Rent Northlands Annual % increase over year prior Cumulative %
increase from
Jan 1/89
1986 4.83%
1987 3.86%
1988 85.8 2.33%
1989 89.2 3.96% Jan 1: $260
1990 93.0 4.26% 4.26% Jan 1: $275 5.77% 5.77%
1991 99.0 6.45% 10.99% Jan 1: $275 0% 5.77%
1992 100.0 1.01% 12.11% Jan 1: $300 9.09% 15.38%
1993 101.7 1.70% 14.01% Jan 1: $415 38.33% 59.62%
November 13, 2001: City of Yellowknife is asked to take into
consideration the fact that City pays nothing towards maintenance of
infrastructure or provision of services inside Northlands and reduce
the rate of property taxation for Northlands Condo Corp. In spite of
recognizing that the present system "cannot always be defended as being
fair", and that the City takes in $146,841 in municipal taxes from the
Condo Corp, the City follows the recommendation of the Corporate
Services Committee and votes to NOT create a new property
classification for the Condo Corp nor enter into a servicing agreement
with the Corporation to provide snow removal, street sanding and
sweeping or maintenance of fire hydrants (cost of providing these
services estimated to be approximately $25,000 per year).