The Hillcrest Community Association urged city council Monday night not to reconsider its vote to defer a decision on the future of the former tank farm site.

The property's owner, however, did just the opposite. Preet Sidhu wants to see council members, city and Yukon government officials and Hillcrest residents attend a meeting this evening on the matter.

At last night's council meeting, association president Jean-Paul Molgat and Sidhu, who owns the site between Hillcrest and Granger, addressed council in separate presentations.

Mayor Bev Buckway had said late last week she would be bringing back a motion to reconsider the deferral.

Sidhu is applying for an Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment that would temporarily designate the site for remediation. It's expected the clean-up could take two to five years.

The site would be cleaned up, then readied for residential development.

Council voted 4-3 last week to defer its decision on second reading of the change until after a decision document has been issued out of the recommendation from the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board reviews.

Council's vote was divided between those seeking re-election Oct. 18 – councillors Dave Austin, Kirk Cameron, Betty Irwin and Dave Stockdale – favouring the deferral and those not running – Buckway and councillors Ranj Pillai and Florence Roberts – voting against it.

A number of Hillcrest residents have argued against the remediation.

They have said the process would bring dust, noise and traffic to the area.

Critics have also taken issue with the excavation that would be done to get to the contaminated soil.

They have questioned whether that is the best treatment method, arguing it amounts to more of a quarry operation.

The vote saw developers halt their Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Act Assessment (YESA) application, arguing council's deferral would put the entire process behind by a year.

In response, Buckway said she would bring forward a notice of motion to reconsider the vote in the hopes of undoing the damage that was done.

She did that last night.

The motion itself will actually come forward at next week's meeting.

Before Buckway brought it forward, Molgat spoke out against the move, reading from a letter he submitted to the city.

The letter suggested council may not be authorized under the Municipal Act to reconsider a motion.

Molgat questioned the legal basis for it, suggesting the city may need new information or evidence before it reconsiders a motion.

For her part, Buckway later made it clear she has no new information.

Questioned about it by Cameron, Rob Fendrick, the city's director of corporate services, pointed to section 220 of the Municipal Act.

The section states: "The power to pass a bylaw or a resolution includes the power to amend or repeal the bylaw or resolution unless this or any other act expressly provides otherwise.”

The Municipal Act provides the direction in the city's Procedures Bylaw for council to reconsider a vote.

Section 115 of the bylaw states: "A question once decided shall not, during a period of one year after the decision, be reversed, reconsidered or rescinded unless a written notice of motion to do so has been given from one meeting to the next and a minimum of four members vote in favour of the reversal.”

In looking at the matter, Fendrick added that in addition to referring to the legislation, officials consulted the city's lawyers to ensure it could be reconsidered.

Molgat was questioned by Pillai and later Cameron about his thoughts on council potentially passing second reading of the OCP amendment (which would then go to Community Services Minister Elaine Taylor for consideration), but holding off on third reading until the YESA process is complete.

Molgat argued nothing should be done at the city level until a full process through YESA is done.

"We need to do this right,” he said, repeating the city should respect the Municipal Act.

Meanwhile, Mike Gau, the city's acting director of development services, informed council that as the proponents go through additional processes like zoning and other permits to get to the remediation stage, more details of the project will come out.

"We're just at the very beginning of this process,” he said.

Later in the meeting, Sidhu addressed council, arguing the OCP and YESA processes could occur at the same time.

"I want everything in one place,” Sidhu said, emphasizing he's putting millions of dollars into the project.

He reiterated there are no plans to operate a gravel pit on the site and stressed that he doesn't want the project delayed.

"It's only a 90-day season,” Sidhu argued when Cameron noted that even with a delay in the OCP process, work may be able to start by next summer.

He also wondered aloud why the Hillcrest Community Association won't be attending the meeting tonight on the tank farm project after speaking to Molgat last night about it.

This morning, Sidhu emphasized he's urging all Hillcrest residents, government and city officials and councillors to attend the 7 p.m. session at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre.