It will be another six weeks before city council considers a proposed amendment to the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP) that would move forward plans for a quarry.

The proposed quarry would be developed on vacant Commissioner’s land next to the Utah Siding yard on the Alaska Highway south of Robert Service Way.

Norcope Construction has applied for the OCP designation change from mixed use-industrial to industrial for the 21.6-hectare piece of land in the area across from the Mount Sima Road.

At Monday’s council meeting, council voted 6-1 to put off first reading on the OCP change, following a request by Norcope owner Doug Gonder to defer it.

Coun. Betty Irwin was the lone vote against putting off the decision.

She argued a quarry in that area is not appropriate. She highlighted concerns the city has already heard around the impact to the Miles Canyon area and to wilderness in the area, concerns brought forward by First Nations, and other issues.

Irwin said she’d rather vote on the OCP change last night than defer the decision.

In a presentation at the beginning of last night’s meeting, Gonder asked that council defer the decision.

The deferral, he explained, would give Norcope a chance to gather and bring forward more information on the proposal.

A number of questions around the project came up when the OCP designation was brought forward last week, Gonder noted, and a deferral would give Norcope time to look at those issues.

Tyler Heal, an engineer with Stantec, which is working with Norcope on the project, appeared with Gonder at last night’s meeting.

Heal told council there’s been additional work to pull back the boundaries to allow for an expanded buffer.

A meeting is scheduled with the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council, which has already made a submission to the city opposing the plans.

Gonder said there are also plans to have 3D mapping of the area done to provide a better idea of what the impact to the site would be.

That will address concerns that have come up around the view of the area and future development after the end of the quarry’s life.

Responding to a question from Coun. Samson Hartland, Gonder said it will take at least two weeks to do the work he’s planning to get the additional information to council.

Administration will then need more time to prepare a report on the OCP change; hence the six weeks before it will come back to council.

While council was willing to defer the matter, it was acknowledged there are issues that will need to be dealt with.

Coun. Roslyn Woodcock said she isn’t in favour of the proposal going ahead if access to the site is from Miles Canyon Road.

Woodcock also wants to see support from local First Nations with settlement land in the area.

Similarly, Hartland said he would have trouble agreeing to the change without support expressed by First Nations.

Outside council chambers after the meeting, Gonder said the company would not be able to have access to the site directly off the Alaska Highway, given the Yukon government’s plans for highway improvements.

However, he noted the company will be looking at other possibilities. Those include an access that had been previously considered through the Yukon Siding yard.

“There’s some options,” Gonder said.

He also emphasized plans to discuss the proposal with any interested parties, including First Nations, and noted the ongoing need for gravel in the city.

With the exception of Irwin, council members noted their support for putting off first reading of the OCP change.

They highlighted that it’s the proponent who is looking for more time to bring forward additional information and gain support for the project.

Councillors Dan Boyd and Rob Fendrick noted they’d be interested in looking at the potential site line and noise impacts from nearby areas like Miles Canyon, a popular spot for tourists and locals.

Also making a presentation at the meeting was Hillcrest resident Peter Long, who spoke out against the plans.

Long heads up the Whitehorse Walks website. He argued a quarry at that site would have a negative impact for those wanting to take in the Miles Canyon area, including the numerous trails that lead to the McRae area and those along the Yukon River.

“We should be thinking about future recreational trails along the river,” he said.

What if some year, he asked, the White Pass and Yukon Route rail corridor is declared out of bounds?

With a big slope on one side of the tracks and a big quarry on the other, Long said, this could be a major impediment to city recreational trail plans such as a Yukon River trail.

He urged council to vote down the OCP change, arguing Miles Canyon’s scenic value can last forever if the surrounding areas are not spoiled.

Meanwhile, also on the quarrying front, the Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) this morning issued a recommendation that the city’s proposal for a renewal and expansion of its gravel quarry lease in the MacLean Lake area go ahead.

It would see the quarry lease for the current 3.64 hectares renewed along with an 8.8-ha. expansion that would be phased in over 10 years.

“Under s. 58(1)(a) of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act, the Whitehorse designated office (of YESAB) recommends to the decision body for the project that the project be allowed to proceed, as it determined that the project will not have significant adverse environmental effects in or outside the Yukon,” reads the conclusion included in the recommendation released today.