Another community organization has resigned from the working group created by city hall to oversee the proposal for a subdivision development next to McIntyre Creek.

The Porter Creek Community Association issued a release Tuesday accusing the city of manipulating the planning process to make sure it got the answer it wanted, and that is: the area between Porter Creek and Yukon College is not critical wildlife habitat.

"It is now apparent the ‘working group' was simply thrown together to fulfill the city's legal obligations to have public input, but that the outcome had already been determined based on the influence of for profit' interest groups,” association president Jeffery Marynowski said in the release.

The association, Marynowski points out, was promised it would be involved in setting the terms of reference for the wildlife research in the area known as Porter Creek D, and selecting the company to do the work.

But it wasn't, he notes.

The president said the association expressed concerns about what it felt was a short study – late April to mid-September – particularly with the volume of heavy equipment working not far away at the new traffic circle on Mountainview Drive.

And the city also breached normal procedure and edict when it issued a press release on the draft report presented to city council last Thursday before providing the working group with a briefing, Marynowski contends.

The community association's release says a study in 2000 to identify significant wildlife areas concluded the McIntyre Creek corridor was "the largest contiguous significant wildlife area with the City of Whitehorse.

"We would like to know: what has changed since that report?”

Asked this morning about the strongly worded press release, Marynowski said the association wants to emphasize how the city will go through the formality of a public consultation exercise, even when it already has its mind made up, as such is the case with Porter Creek D.

The Yukon Conservation Society and the Friends of McIntyre Creek announced their resignations from the working group Monday, for many of the same reasons cited by the Porter Creek Community Association.

The report from EDI concludes that developing an area of Porter Creek D would not have a negative impact on regional wildlife populations.

The area is not a viable wildlife corridor for moose, bears, deer and other large animals, and should not be managed as such, says the report.

It says the 250-metre corridor along the creek, 125 metres on each side generally, does represent a viable corridor for smaller animals like coyotes, marten, foxes, otters and other water animals.

The corridor for smaller animals would not be impacted by having development nearby or a road crossing the creek, but rather could be improved if a plan was put in place to manage human traffic in the area, the report says.

It says area residents out walking their dogs or driving their off-road vehicles represent the greatest presence in the Porter Creek D planning area, by a country mile.

The city will host an open house at the High Country Inn from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday to gather public input on the proposed Porter Creek development.

City planning manager Mike Gau said today the open house is not just about the wildlife study, but about all aspects of the proposal, including current use of the area and how that might be affected.

If the city is missing something, it wants to hear about it so it can pass along all aspects of the public discussion to city council, as city council is scheduled to vote Dec. 12 whether to move forward with the Porter Creek D development, he said.

Gau dismissed any notion of the city trying to load the planning process in its favour.

When EDI was hired to do the study, for instance, the Porter Creek D working group hadn't even been formed, so it was impossible for the community association to have been promised representation during the hiring process, Gau added.

Marynowski, however, said this morning he was indeed assured the association would be involved in developing the terms of reference and hiring the company.

Meanwhile, the conservation society and the Friends of McIntyre Creek announced today they will be hosting their own open house Thursday – same time, same place.

Karen Baltgailis, the society's executive director, said the two organizations want to make sure the public have the opportunity to hear all relevant information.

"We feel it is important that our information, including our interpretation of the EDI wildlife study, gets out to the public as well,” Baltgailis said today.

"Since people will already be at the High Country Inn for the city's open house, we've rented a meeting room there at the same time, so that people can talk to us,” she said.