The Yukon government is moving forward with its own plan to open up development of the Stevens Quarry site, says a senior official with the government’s land management branch.

Susan Antpoehler said in an interview Tuesday the government expects to have plans back by the end of March from the consultant hired to look at the best way to go about making the known gravel resources available.

It’s possible that access to quarry leases could be available later this year through a standard public process, she said.

The manager of client services said it’s difficult to say how that might unfold but however it does, it will take community concerns fully into account.

Having the report from the local consulting firm will go a long way in determining how to make the gravel resource available, Antpoehler said.

“Really, we just want to wait for the plan,” she told the Star. “But we do want to open up the area for development, and we want to take into account the concerns expressed and find a path forward.”

Stevens Quarry is known as one of the largest – if not the largest – untapped sources of gravel in the city.

Suggestions to open up the site for quarry development have met with fiery, staunch resistance over the years and decades, just like they have now – and just as they did when the Yukon government tried in 2012.

There is a petition currently afoot denouncing any notion Stevens Quarry should be developed, with well above 400 signatures collected so far (see story).

The petition began circulating last October in response to a quarry proposal submitted the previous July by Norcope Enterprises for review by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board.

The board recommended to the government in November that it accept the proposal by Norcope to quarry about a fifth of what the government was proposing eight years ago. As the decision body, the government accepted the recommendation on Dec. 29.

But all the way along the assessment board process, the government stated in its written submissions to the board that Norcope was not eligible for a quarry permit because the land in question was being held by the government under an administrative land reserve. As such, the government could not entertain any land use requests for the area.

Antpoehler explained the government accepted the assessment board’s recommendation to allow Norcope to proceed because the government is part of the process. It reviewed the recommendation, agreed with it, and issued the decision document accepting the board’s recommendation, she said.

Antpoehler said accepting the recommendation doesn’t negate the government’s authority over the administrative land reserve.

The government, she explained, is continuing along its own path to open up the development of Stevens Quarry.

Last fall, the government issued a contract to a local consulting firm to produce a Stevens Development Quarry Plan.

Antpoehler reiterated that having the plan will help guide the government’s approach to make gravel available.

In the Stevens Quarry proposal the government submitted to the assessment board in 2012, it was proposing to turn 119.5 hectares into five specific quarry sites.

The assessment board rejected the proposal but also said it would be acceptable if the government were to proceed with operating just one pit at a time instead of five, beginning with the 21.5-ha. lot Norcope is proposing to quarry. The government chose not to proceed.

Antpoehler said the consultant will take into account the board’s 2012 recommendation, just as he will consider the recommendation on Norcope’s proposal.

Perhaps the consultant will recommend moving forward with smaller quarries, instead of larger ones, she said.

Antpoehler said what they need is for the consultant’s plan to come out, and then focus on options it presents.