The Vuntut Limited Partnership (VLP) has jumped one of its first major hurdles in developing two waterfront properties.

On Monday evening, city council voted in favour of several zoning amendments to the former Motorways trucking yard properties.

"This was the biggest hurdle we had," VLP president Stephen Mills told reporters following the vote approving second and third readings of the amendments.

The VLP has purchased two properties on the site from the territorial government.

The VLP wanted to see the site's parking regulations, which they argued they wouldn't be able to meet given all zoning requirements, amended so the regulations would be the same as those in other areas downtown.

Along with reducing the parking requirements, the city also opted to provide a list of allowable building uses on the zones, clarified that buildings, rather than properties, facing the Yukon River are limited to two storeys to a maximum of 10 metres; eliminated the parking setback from street frontages and added a new section to specify that undeveloped areas between parking and streets be landscaped.

While the original amendment on the areas between parking and streets was set to be three metres, Coun. Doug Graham argued that one metre would be enough.

With the exception of Mayor Bev Buckway and Coun. Jan Stick, the rest of council agreed with Graham's proposal for the change.

Although the one-metre landscaping requirement isn't expected to have a major impact on the VLP's development, Mills said he's happy with the changes that were made.

"I think this type of zoning change makes the other properties a bit more attractive," he said. "And I think it fits really well with the whole concept of the city and what residents want to see on the waterfront."

The VLP plans would see a number of buildings on the two properties; the first is likely to be a mix of commercial and residential close to the Yukon River.

The larger of the two lots will likely be a phased development, with phase one commencing next year.

"We have to be careful with the economy right now," he added. "We know that the economy's soft right now. We know that there's some issues elsewhere.

We know that housing prices have been dropping somewhat so we do have to just be careful."

A phased development could help minimize the VLP's risk, while also developing the waterfront in a positive way, he said.

The VLP doesn't plan to put parking spaces on the river side of its property. However, Graham was the only councillor to vote against the amendment that sets parking back from the river by 20 metres and requires the setback to be landscaped and parking area to be hard-surfaced.

"That's a huge distance ," he said. "Twenty metres is stupid."

If the city doesn't want parking on the Yukon River reserve, that's what the bylaw should say, Graham said.

Stick argued that was the intention of the parking regulation and it was simply worded differently than what Graham thought it should be.

As Graham pointed out though, parking is a lot closer to the water further down on First Avenue.

"Let's be consistent," the councillor said.

Though Graham was the lone vote against that amendment, he did get his way on the other amendment he suggested for a one-metre, rather than three-metre, area between roads and parking areas.

One metre would be enough to hide the parking area with a landscaped hedge or trees, he argued.

"I know, from my own experience, that if you've got a one-metre area and you put a hedge in there, nobody's going to see any parking lot in behind it anyway," he said, once again stating that the city should state exactly what it's looking for in its regulations.

"What are we trying to do by saying that we need 10 feet?" Graham questioned.

He's looking forward to the overall issue of the downtown parking situation being addressed, he added, since it seems like at least every month, council is dealing with a parking matter in the city's core.

Graham voted against the setback regulations next to the Yukon River and two council members voted against Graham's proposals. However, in the end, it was a unanimous vote by all members to go ahead with the overall change to the zoning on the waterfront properties.

With the zoning issues now dealt with, the VLP is setting its sights on the environmental work that may need to be done.

That effort will start this week, with the VLP facing a December deadline to turn the properties back to the government if it wants to get out of the purchasing deal.

"The next hurdle that we have now is that we are doing environmental work on the properties to determine if there's any environmental issues that we need to be aware of, that could result in some unknown costs in the future," Mills said.

With the properties sold as is, it's important for the VLP to do its due diligence before the December deadline, he said.

The organization already knows it will have to deal with removing the old railway ties (not connected to the trolley, which operates downtown through the summer) and any resulting environmental damage.

Mills noted the VLP will continue to work with the city as the work goes forward on development plans.

Based on his experience with the zoning issues, he said he expects the ongoing relationship with city officials to be a positive one.