The Yukon Liberal Party may want the McIntyre Creek area protected, but Mayor Bev Buckway says the city already has development plans for the land.

Porter Creek South MLA Don Inverarity and Cherish Clarke, the Liberals' Takhini-Kopper King candidate for the coming election, held a press conference Wednesday to emphasize the importance of preserving the wildlife corridor.

Land around the creek was designated for development of Porter Creek D in both the city's Growth Strategy and Official Community Plan (OCP) — adopted in 2010.

"It's not something that is new,” Buckway said this morning. "It's something that we've been working on for some time.”

Designating land for future development is an important part of city council's role, Buckway told the Star this morning.

"You have to identify land well, well in advance so you know where you're going to go next,” she said. "And that's part of our ongoing planning process.”

Extensive public consultation was undertaken in the creation of the OCP, Buckway said.

"We've definitely heard that people value the area, of course,” she said.

"It's sort of a two-fold thing: people want to be able to recreate in the area and yet protect the environment. So it's trying to come up with a balance.”

Buckway noted that public consultation continues as plans move forward, with everyone from the Yukon government, the Kwanlin Dun and Ta'an Kwach'an first nations, and environmental and community groups giving input on how to proceed with plans for the area.

"Public consultation is always part of what we do,” she said.

In addition, the city is collecting information on the environmental, economic, cultural and social interests in the area, and is conducting a wildlife study to look at what impacts development would have.

The information collected will be presented to council and the public in November.

"We are moving forward with the planning,” Buckway said.

"It's not a speedy way to go. I know there are people who'd like to go in with bulldozers and start making roads, and there are other people that would prefer that nothing happened.

"But, again, the consultation we've done with the public through the Official Community Plan and prior to that has already identified that area.”

Though the area has been designated for development, there will be environmental protections, including "good buffers” along the creek, Buckway said.

"Through the city's Official Community Plan, there is protection already there,” she said. "So what the Liberals are asking for from the territorial government is something over and above what the municipality is working on.”

With a territorial election looming this fall, candidates' campaigns are bound to touch on issues which have municipal implications, which can create misunderstanding about which body is responsible for which issue, Buckway said.

"When people are out talking to the residents and the constituents, there can be confusion about who's responsible for what,” she said.

This murkiness isn't necessarily confined to the electorate either.

Buckway said she recently noticed one territorial election candidate's platform is made up of three issues, two of which are municipal and one of which is federal.

Communication would help mitigate confusion, Buckway said.

"The more that the various orders of government talk together and take time to meet with each other about which responsibilities belong to which jurisdiction — and also where people can better tie in together and join forces to get better results for their residents and the constituents — I feel is very positive,” she said.

When development in the McIntyre Creek area would actually begin remains unclear.

Porter Creek D is slated to go in around the same time as the last phase of Whistle Bend, which could be 120 years away, depending on how they city's population grows.

"It's certainly down the road,” Buckway said.