The city has put off changing its Official Community Plan (OCP) to permit remediation work to happen on the former tank farm site in favour of waiting for it to go through an environmental assessment first.

At Monday evening's city council meeting, members voted 4-3 in favour of deferring the OCP amendment until the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board releases its recommendations and the territorial government issues a decision document on the proposal.

Developers are looking to remediate the ground at the former tank farm site between Hillcrest and Granger to make way for anywhere between 500 and 800 homes.

Mayor Bev Buckway and councillors Ranj Pillai and Florence Roberts – the three council members not seeking re-election Oct. 18 – raised their hands against the deferral while the others stated the city should be heeding the calls of residents to hold off on a decision.

"We've got to listen,” said Coun. Kirk Cameron.'

He made the remark after pointing out nearby residents are "really, really” uncomfortable with the direction the project is taking. The city, he argued, should wait until all the data is available through the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act (YESA) process.

Developers have proposed a process that would see the ground dug up and the contaminated soil taken out. In some spots, that would mean digging 30 metres or more down.

Residents of Hillcrest have taken issue with the plans, saying they would amount to a quarrying operation that would bring dust, noise and traffic to their neighbourhood.

They've also questioned whether it's the best way to remediate the area or simply the cheapest.

At last night's council meeting, Jean-Paul Molgat, the president of the Hillcrest Community Association, led the call for the deferral.

In a presentation to council prior to the vote, Molgat argued before a quarry operation is permitted by the city, maybe "we should know what's in the ground.”

He also note the application gives no definition of what is meant by "temporary”.

Developers have said they expected remediation to take between two and five years, but Molgat questioned whether it will be two years, five years, or at least five years.

Arguing that Hillcrest residents don't oppose remediating the site, he noted the association is simply asking that the city use precaution and permit the YESA process to happen before deciding on whether to approve the OCP change.

"Let's put the horse back before the cart,” Molgat urged.

Roberts, however, could not see a reason to hold up the OCP process anymore.

She pointed out there's been talk and a little bit of work on cleaning up the tank farm since she moved here 40 years ago.

It's important, she said, to be proactive and not hold up the work anymore.

Pillai said he'd rather see that area developed than infill in the "backyards” of residents who never thought they'd see sites near their homes developed.

Buckway, meanwhile, argued the OCP process can run parallel with YESA.

If council had passed second reading of the OCP change last night, it would then have gone to the government for ministerial approval prior to coming back to council for third reading in November.

As planning manager Mike Gau noted, the OCP would be a policy change in how the land could be used.

If council moved ahead with the OCP, it would later attach the YESA conditions to its permits that allow for physical work to be done on the site.

Coun. Dave Austin argued there's no need to move ahead on the OCP change without the YESA process.

Councillors Cameron, Dave Stockdale and Betty Irwin agreed, voting in favour of the deferral and pointing to the concerns many residents have brought forward.