Photo by Whitehorse Star
Mike Gau
City will be responsible for third phase of Whistle Bend
The third phase of development for the Whistle Bend neighbourhood
The third phase of development for the Whistle Bend neighbourhood will be left in the hands of the city after council voted in favour of signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the territory that will see it in charge of the full development.
Usually, the city plans for new developments with the territory then responsible for developing the infrastructure and selling the lots.
The city takes over maintenance of the roads and infrastructure once the development is complete.
However, under the agreement with the territory, in this case the city will do all of the work for phase 3 of the city’s newest neighbourhood with the territory funding the work.
“I think this is an important step for the city,” Coun. John Streicker said during council discussion April 27 as he stressed the importance of working carefully to ensure everything is done right.
While the agreement limits the work to the third phase of Whistle Bend, it is set to serve as a trial run that could see the city take over development of new subdivisions in the future.
Limiting it to one phase of the neighbourhood will “help limit liability or risk to the city and allow an evaluation to occur to see if full transfer, or devolution, of the program should occur,” it was noted by Mike Gau, the city’s director of development services, in a report to council last week.
As it was noted by staff, there will be a full, detailed evaluation done before any further projects go forward.
While the MOU will detail legal responsibilities, construction timing and so on, further implementation agreements will also be signed at each phase of construction.
It’s anticipated construction of phase 3 will start in July 2016.
Council was unanimous in voting to go ahead with the MOU.
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Comments (11)
Up 0 Down 1
WestofBelfast on May 11, 2015 at 5:30 pm
Another project that COW will not see through to the end. Case in point; Falcon Ridge estates. They can't seem to police Brian Little to do what he has promised to do when he got his permit and he still dumps discarded building materials on city property (right of way).
Up 12 Down 8
Stu Summer on May 10, 2015 at 10:57 am
We need an independent third party to oversee all city planning. Why? Because they too frequently create a mess.
Up 13 Down 9
Tory stee on May 8, 2015 at 6:52 pm
Typical Whitehorse. Everybody's crying about change. Although most of the commenters probably haven't lived here long enough to remember EVERY SINGLE development in this town since the 30s has been a "dump". Copper ridge was swamp. Granger was litterly a dump and when Porter Creek was developed and everybody was upset about the lot prices. Just give it 20 years and Whistle Bend will be just just another member of the family.
Up 16 Down 13
north_of_60 on May 7, 2015 at 2:52 pm
@Leonard Kireti "I don't understand the hate that this sub-division gets,..."
If you read the comments previous to yours it should become obvious. Why would anyone want to live in Wasteland Bend? It will eventually become a social housing ghetto since nobody else wants to live there.
Up 21 Down 18
Leonard Kireti on May 7, 2015 at 12:52 pm
I don't understand the hate that this sub-division gets, it has helped a lot of young families buy new homes at an affordable price. Here's the thing, if you are buying one of the older homes with the big lots in Porter Creek or Riverdale you really don't know what your getting in terms of costly repairs to update the insulation, electrical and not to mention insurance issues in regards to properties with oil tanks. Having these updates done in the Yukon is really expensive (just try getting a quote on renovations and see the crazy numbers). At the end of the day, it is much easier to go with a new home that comes with warranties, even though the yards are not as spacious as those in the older neighbourhoods.
Up 24 Down 0
my opinion on May 7, 2015 at 10:22 am
Whistlebend has amazing infrastructure and a very good location with access to wildernerss and the river, plus easy access to the college, Takhini schools, and downtown. The fact that the City, the architects, the engineers or whoever was involved utterly destroyed the ecology of the entire area is what has undermined the neighbourhood. That will take a very long time to overcome.
Yukoners like trees and nature. Some focus on remediation of the moonscape the developers involved created would go a long way to attracting people.
The other issue however is that there is just not much demand for housing right now. I know this as a landlord offering varying types of housing. Ads that would have had 30 or 40 responses in 3 days now get maybe 4 responses. The demand for housing is way down and I can tell you that from a street level perspective, not from surveys or statistics.
Also, there are no deals to be had anymore. Used to be that you could find a place in a run down neighbourhood, like Takhini or downtown, and fix it up a bit and turn the neighbourhood into a great place to live. Now it is all social engineered to be a 'happening neighbourhood' right from the get go, and that costs a lot of money. I bet there are a lot of people wishing there were a kind of dumpy place to call home, which they could afford and then improve. On the other hand I have heard realtors and developers say that no, today's young purchasers want the granite counter tops, nice roads, yards, garages etc, and everything completely done for them. Could be so. Well, you are going to pay top dollar for that.
Up 19 Down 17
Josey Wales on May 7, 2015 at 9:30 am
PooVille indeed....I was up there just yesterday, and the sanitized very generic houses WEDGED in that area damn near made me spew chunks.
The entire hood was invented and pushed forward by a whole whack of folks....
...who clearly took the short bus to school.
I find this place is more a test lab for socialist engineering in corralling subjects.
By this place I meant today's Yukon, seems to the many many levels of chair warmers we have here...do in fact think/feel we are their subjects.
Enjoy your hood Pooville-ite.....seems many of us out here do not.
Up 27 Down 9
ProScience Greenie on May 6, 2015 at 12:01 pm
We can't all live on a rural residential acreage because the powers that be won't let us as it would break the artificially inflated real estate bubble. Ironically most of the 'powers that be' folks got their land for next to nothing or by squatting. Follow the money.
Up 42 Down 39
Pooville-ite on May 5, 2015 at 4:40 pm
@Yukon Justice : Have you been to Whistle Bend? Walked the trails? Along the river? Or is your comment all baseless negative rhetoric. What did Riverdale look like when it was first developed? Or worse: the current gravel-lawned Copper Ridge? Neighbourhoods develop over time and I don't know if you have checked MLS or Property Guys recently, but land is expensive in the Yukon. And unfortunately we can't all live on a rural residential acreage as much as we would like to.
Up 31 Down 15
Max Mack on May 5, 2015 at 4:14 pm
And on a different vein, Gau and his backroom dealings have all but ensured that the City will have to sell Whistlebend to an unwilling public. This means rezoning to permit the monstrous Continuing Care facility and the $8 million dollar soccer-plex, as this is necessary to draw in the buyers.
Up 40 Down 20
Yukon JUstice on May 5, 2015 at 3:59 pm
I hope there is someone working on the third phase who has lived in the Yukon for more than six months. The treeless, narrow, expensive lots with air polluted by sewage gas might fly in Vancouver and elsewhere but we don't want it here.