Whistle Bend expected to stabilize prices

Home buyers looking for property in Whistle Bend could be paying anywhere from $76,000 to $180,000 for a lot in the neighbourhood which is set to become the city’s largest subdivision.

Home buyers looking for property in Whistle Bend could be paying anywhere from $76,000 to $180,000 for a lot in the neighbourhood which is set to become the city’s largest subdivision.

On Thursday morning, officials with both the city and territory gathered at the corner of what will soon become Aksala Drive to show off the paved roads, sidewalks, vacant lots and ongoing work which will see 111 new residential lots for sale through a lottery next month.

The eight-phase development could take upwards of 20 years to full build-out, housing upwards of 8,000 people and eventually including commercial development, community gathering spots and schools.

On Sept. 26, the lottery for the first lots will be held with 90 single-family lots, eight duplex properties and seven multi-family sites up for grabs.

Two duplex sites are being gifted for Habitat for Humanity. Lottery packages will be available Sept. 5.

With lots costing anywhere from $76,000 for a single duplex lot (though they are to be sold in pairs) to $180,000 for a multifamily property, the properties are being priced based on the development costs rather than at market value.

The prices, Community Services Minister Elaine Taylor said at Thursday’s press conference, are about 6.5 per cent below market value, and it’s not believed offering lots at that price will impact the broader housing market.

“This approach offers new lots at the most cost effective price for new homeowners starting in the new Whistle Bend subdivision,” she said.

“Development costs include sidewalks and roads, parks and trails, water and wastewater systems, and more, all of which are recovered through the land sales.” Streets in phase one, like Aksala Drive, are now paved with utilities beneath leading to area lots.

“Whistle Bend is definitely the result of great partnerships,” Mayor Bev Buckway said at the press conference.

She looked back six years to 2006, when the city began looking at the background and heritage information around Porter Creek’s lower bench.

It was later in the same year that consultation began on the possible development of the area with a charette.

It was there that the name Whistle Bend came about to mark the area where sternwheelers would blow their whistle as they came around the Yukon River bend.

It was also through the consultation the idea came forward to name all the streets (with the exception of the already established Skookum Drive leading to the Mountain View Golf Course) be named recognizing the city’s transportation history.

The streets in the first phase have been named after the sternwheelers that once plied the river.

As planning continued with public meetings, council approvals, etc., to build the new neighbourhood, house prices throughout the city continued to climb, reaching an average of $375,000 for single-family homes by last fall.

Land opened up in Takhini, the new subdivision of Ingram and other small areas of the city, but it was not enough to keep up with demand.

Criticism has continued to come into the city and territory (while the city plans for new residential development, the territory is responsible for implementing the plans) that the goal of a two-year supply of lots is not being met; however, in recent weeks, more and more houses have been advertised for sale.

There are also several condo developments underway.

Speaking to reporters after Thursday’s press conference, Buckway noted the pace of lot availability can be adjusted depending on the housing market at the time.

“It is a phased-in approach,” she said.

Those purchasing lots in phase one will have two years to build their home.

It’s expected another set of lots will be made available in September 2013 for the second phase of the development after roads and services in that part of the neighbourhood are developed, Yukon government officials said.

Taylor said future phases will likely see property prices also based on the cost of development.

In an interview this morning, Val Smith, the president of the Yukon Real Estate Association, said she believes the cost of the Whistle Bend lots may help to stabilize the overall housing prices throughout Whitehorse.

Exactly what that will mean for the average house price remains to be seen, she said.

While lots will be up for sale next month, she noted, it will probably be another year before any homes are built and put up for sale in the neighbourhood.

While housing prices are starting to come down, Smith said, she would still be surprised to find a single-family home at $350,000 or less that doesn’t need work.

Whistle Bend will also help provide a variety of housing choices in the community, she said. While the lots are smaller than most properties in Whitehorse, she pointed out, the density in the city has to increase.

During the presentations, city and Yukon government officials stressed the 22 per cent population growth Whitehorse has seen over the last 10 years.

They noted that Whistle Bend is the last large site in the city suitable for housing in stating the need for higher-density development.

Following the press conference, media along with staff and elected officials with both the territory and city travelled around the first phase of the neighbourhood taking in the new lots and looking at the features of the new development.

Pat Molloy, the territory’s director of land development, pointed to features like a paved trail that can be accessed throughout the neighbourhood, playground areas and so on.

Stopping to look down at a muddy, wet field, Molloy noted the spot is set to become a “rain garden” to collect draining water.

As Molloy noted, should the city have a major rain event (one that happens once every 100 years or so, for example), the site is large enough to fill with water.

It will also serve as a large multi-use area and feature landscaping.

Phase two of the development is designed to the water drainage flow out of the subdivision.

Though it will likely be another year before homes are built on the property, the neighbourhood already has one building constructed.

A waste water facility is already in place. As one of the greener features of the neighbourhood, waste water will be used to circulate through homes in the development, eliminating the need for heat tape to be used through the winter to keep pipes from freezing.

The neighbourhood also won’t be using a lot of traffic lights, instead favouring roundabouts as a traffic control system.

Already one is constructed into the neighbourhood off Mountainview Drive and another one is being built further into the area.

Along with showing off the neighbourhood, the tour ventured out of the neighbourhood to Range Road. There, government officials showed off the new passage over McIntyre Creek as part of the Whistle Bend project.

The watermain extension leading to the neighbourhood from Takhini was done under Range Road.

Replacing the two small metal culverts is a large archway over the creek.

Christine Lambert, the manager of field services for the territory, noted the new crossing allows both large and small fish to swim upstream better.

The small culverts, she explained, increased the velocity of the water flowing through.

The large archway means the water flowing through is of a lower velocity, enabling smaller fish to get through.

Small animals can also pass through the crossing, she said.

“For us, that’s a huge success,” Lambert said.

The project served as a form of compensation through the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the work done along the Yukon River to the wharf downtown.