Whitehorse city council is asking the minister of community services for a one-year extension to update the city’s zoning bylaw.
At the city council meeting on Feb. 12, councillors unanimously voted on asking for the extension — and for changing the requested extension from a time frame of nine months to one year.
As the News previously reported, under the territorial Municipal Act municipalities are required to update their zoning bylaw — if necessary — within two years of adopting a new official community plan.
This deadline would require the city to adopt a new zoning bylaw by the end of this March, as the official community plan was adopted on March 27, 2023. It’s a deadline that would undermine the completeness of the bylaw review, according to Mélodie Simard, manager of planning and sustainability services.
Coun. Dan Boyd introduced the amendment to extend the extension to March 27, 2026, as opposed to the initially requested extended deadline of December 27, 2025.
“If we can do it sooner, that's great, we will, but at least we don't have to go back again and ask for another further extension,” said Boyd.
Previously, city staff had voiced concerns with an extension longer than nine months due to expectations coming from external funders like the Housing Accelerator Fund, a federal program administrated by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
City spokesperson Matthew Cameron told the News that after looking into it the matter in more detail, it was determined that there would be no issues concerning accessing Housing Accelerator Fund money.
According to John Tonin, communications representative for YG community services, the department receives a few extension requests per year, on different parts of the Municipal Act.
In an Feb. 11 email to the News, Tonin said there are no upcoming plans to review the timelines imposed on municipalities to adopt zoning. He said the department records concerns from municipalities to “ensure any future updates to the Municipal Act align with the modern needs of municipalities.”
He also said the two-year adoption requirement was not changed during the review of the Municipal Act which took place in 2015.
The zoning bylaw rewrite is expected to address multiple points about development within the city, including building heights and densification, per Boyd’s comments when the motion was initially introduced at the standing committee meeting on Feb. 3, 2025.
