Land exchange would produce two country residential parcels

City council heard an application report Monday evening that would see a land exchange produce two country residential lots.

City council heard an application report Monday evening that would see a land exchange produce two country residential lots.

The estate of famed Whitehorse rancher Sylvia McDougall has applied to the city to rezone Lot 1116 and a portion of vacant Commissioner’s Land near the junction of the McLean Lake Road and the Alaska Highway. With the rezoning, the applicants plan to create two RC2—Country Residential 2 lots.

The proponents brought a residential lot enlargement application to the city in August 2006. They were denied because the existing lot did not comply with the Official Community Plan (OCP) policy requirement for a 30-metre setback from McLean Creek.

“The Development Review Committee suggested a land swap for the portion of the lot within the riparian setback in exchange for a 0.23 hectare parcel of Commissioner’s Land,” said senior city planner Mike Gau, reading from an administrative report.

The Yukon government granted permission to apply for rezoning for this portion of land in November 2007.

“This process is leading with the zoning application first, as the applicant is only interested in buying the Yukon government parcel if re-zoning to RC2 can be obtained,” said Gau.

The zoning would allow for the creation of two new country residential lots after the private and Yukon government parcels are consolidated.

The OCP has a Natural Open Space designation, which recognizes that a number of country residential lots exist in the McLean Lake area.

Further, the designation recognizes that these residential uses may continue through appropriate zoning. In this case, the land lot is so small that the OCP does not pick it up, but would be included with other McLean Lake residential parcels.

If the city approves this re-zoning application, the proponents still have to submit a subdivision plan for approval, under the Public Land Use Dedication requirements.