Whitehorse city council approved a new country-residential development to be located off Hamilton Boulevard near the Lobird trailer park.
Earlier this year, council was presented the plan for the 16-lot development to be sited on undeveloped land adjacent to Lobird and sharing an owner with the park. Called Highland Estates by proponents, the development is to be attached to the city road system with a road the developer will build but the lots won’t be connected to city water and sewer services.
According to project proponent Dwight Chalifour, each of the country-residential lots will be 1.3 acres in size.
The plan received some scrutiny as the large unserviced lots conflicted with city planning for the area but council heard about the unsuitability of the area for denser development given its terrain.
A public hearing saw limited concerns raised about the development.
The official community plan (OCP) amendment that would make the development possible was up for its third and final reading at the city’s July 8 council meeting.
Coun. Dan Boyd said he’s consistently not been in favour of the plan, calling it “a short-term bad planning decision that the city will potentially pay dearly for in the years to come.”
Coun. Kirk Cameron offered the opposite view, saying that the plan doesn’t have much of a significant impact in the overall number of lots it will affect.
The OCP amendment was passed 6-1 with only Boyd opposed.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com
