Whistle Bend lacks ‘proper mix’: association

Higher-density residential areas should be closer to the city's core, rather than eight kilometres away from it, says Terry Bergen, president of the Yukon Real Estate Association.

Higher-density residential areas should be closer to the city’s core, rather than eight kilometres away from it, says Terry Bergen, president of the Yukon Real Estate Association.

The association recently sent a letter to city council bringing forward concerns over the proposed Whistle Bend subdivision.

“We don’t feel what they’re planning is a proper mix,” Bergen said this morning.

Bergen’s concerns are similar to those expressed by Coun. Doug Graham last week that the lots, in the subdivision to be built at Porter Creek’s lower bench, are smaller than people want and therefore won’t sell.

The plan, as currently proposed, would see a population of more than 10,000 over an area of 224 hectares. Along with lower and higher-density housing throughout, the plans also include space for two elementary schools, a high school, two community use areas, two major commercial sites and areas that would be a mixed use.

As Bergen noted, it would mean putting the combined population of several of the city’s neighbourhoods into one community.

While consultants are still working on the final design for the neighbourhood, it’s expected even the largest of the single-family lots will be small compared to other neighbourhoods in order to accommodate the number of people expected to live there.

At last week’s council meeting, Graham suggested the largest of the lots could end up being 500 square metres.

“They’re not building what people want,” Bergen said, pointing to the many times he’s been questioned on why newer city lots, such as those built in Copper Ridge in recent years, are so small.

Rather, he said, the city is focused on having more people in one area with limited parking to encourage transit use.

As Bergen pointed out, building lots closer together and having higher density development means it costs less to put in infrastructure and deliver city services such as snow-clearing and so on.

At a council and senior management meeting last week, it was also pointed out by city staff that the site serves as the last major flat piece of land available for development in Whitehorse. Set to be developed in phases, Whistle Bend is expected to serve the city’s growing population over the next 30 years.

With the schools, major commercial sites and so on, city officials have also pointed out that at least a portion of residents in the new neighbourhood will likely be in walking distance to work.

Bergen argued though there are still likely to be many who will continue to work downtown or visit other facilities, such as the Canada Games Centre, that aren’t in Whistle Bend.

Many families looking for new homes when Whistle Bend comes on line will likely have two vehicles and, when looking at the new neighbourhood, be presented with an option that doesn’t accommodate their vehicles. That could end up making them look elsewhere for a home.

Already, Bergen deals with a number of clients who end up searching for new homes outside of city limits if they can’t find the larger lots inside Whitehorse.

“That’s why country residential (properties) are so popular,” he said.

Another issue in city planning though is that developments are seldom built for the people who will end up living there.

Though a community café public input session was held earlier to get feedback on what should go into the new subdivision’s design, Bergen was quick to note the people who attend those aren’t the same people who will be buying lots in the area.

At that session, he said, 90 per cent of attendees live in single-family homes. The poll at the session also found that 40 per cent wouldn’t live in Whistle Bend, he said.

By the same token though, that means 60 per cent would be willing to live there, Mayor Bev Buckway said this morning,

While the Canadian Real Estate Association, along with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, has favoured sustainable developments, there’s a push back to that at the local real estate level, the mayor said.

Along with the recent community café session, there’s been a charette and other extensive public planning processes to get input on the development, she argued. At those sessions, people have bought in to the idea of neighbourhoods that are more sustainable, which often means smaller residential properties.

“We’re not used to that,” she said, noting that Whitehorse’s residential sites have mainly been fairly standard for some time now and Whistle Bend gives the city a chance to bring some new options to the market.

She admits the city is taking a bit of a chance with the development that comes with creating any new product. Car manufacturers, for example, didn’t know for certain whether buyers would purchase the smaller vehicles when they first came out, she said.

Also, she added, nothing on Whistle Bend is written in stone just yet. Lot sizes haven’t been completely established and could be changed by the time the final design is adopted as the city attempts to balance its sustainability goals with consumer demand.

“We haven’t got down to the nitty-gritty,” she said. “It’s not a done deal.”

Plans for the neighbourhood will also likely change over the next 30 years as each phase is developed, she pointed out.

The mayor would not rule out the possibility of eight-storey structures for the neighbourhood, as Bergen suggested is being looked at.

A change to the maximum limit of four storeys in Whitehorse has been met with opposition in the past, but as Buckway pointed out, allowing the taller buildings in Whistle Bend would mean it was being done from the beginning of the development rather than allowing it to happen to neighbourhoods that are already established.

With proper planning, it could “nicely work” in some areas of the new subdivision, she said, stressing again that nothing is definite in Whistle Bend.

Higher structures are generally more efficient, she said.

“I believe at some point we’ll see eight storeys in Whitehorse,” Buckway said.

It’s expected the final plan for Whistle Bend will be presented to council for adoption early in the new year with work on the ground to start later in 2009.

The first two phases are expected to each see the development of 200 single-family lots that will be available in 2011 and 2012.

Much could depend on the economic situation in the territory at that time, though.

Buckway said she remains hopeful that by that point, the worst of the current economic crisis will be over, but she also acknowledged that’s hard to predict.

Currently, the economic situation in the rest of the country, where residential property prices are going down, hasn’t been seen in the Yukon, Bergen said.

While sales in the territory are down between 10 and 15 per cent from their height last spring, Bergen noted they remain at about the same level they were at this time last year.

“We have not felt the economic slowdown yet,” he said.

No one is putting their house on the market in order to move into smaller, more affordable homes, he said.

With commodity prices dropping, Bergen expects the mining sector in the Yukon will be slower next year, which could slow things down in the real estate world as well.

However, Bergen was also quick to note there’s about $100 million expected to be spent on major construction projects like the new jail and work at the airport, which could offset the mining situation.

“That will put a lot of people to work,” he said.