Castle Rock Enterprises is moving closer to adding to its quarry operations off the Haeckel Hill Ski Road.

City council is set to vote on a zoning amendment that would open up another 39.5 hectares to quarrying.

The land sits in between Castle Rock’s quarry at the end of the ski road and the Yukon government’s quarry off the Alaska Highway.

Work to get the new site into operation has been underway for about a year.

As city planning manager Pat Ross stated in his report to council Monday night: “In early 2015, Castle Rock applied for a land use permit for the subject parcel from YG (the Yukon government). It was identified that an Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment was required to proceed.”

The OCP change was made in August 2015.

The application also went to the Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) with a decision document released by the territory’s land branch last September.

“A land application was conditionally approved by YG on Nov. 3, 2015,” Ross noted.

The next step to get the quarry going is the zoning to be changed from the current Future Planning to Quarries.

Ross noted the operations would see the quarry operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from May to November each year.

“Based on the test-pitting program, the applicant anticipates an annual extraction rate of approximately 75,000 cubic metres over the life of the quarry. Development and operations would last 10 years with reclamation of the site after the exhaustion of quarry material,” it was stated in the report to council.

Ross went on to point out the potential quarry fits with the natural resource extraction designation that was adopted last September from the previous designation future planning.

The OCP includes a number of policies governing quarry development and operations including maintaining treed buffers, operating hours, requiring a reclamation plan.

“This area is not identified as an environmentally sensitive or valued recreational area,” Ross continued.

“Little Takhini Creek is located approximately 200 m from the subject area, which is beyond the required 30 m riparian setback specified in the OCP. Environment Yukon has indicated there is no wildlife key areas within the subject areas.”

The development is approximately 340 metres away from the nearest residential area. That meets the OCP requirement of a minimum 300-metre separation between sites designated for natural resource extraction and residential designations.

If the zoning change is approved, Castle Rock would be required to provide a detailed management plan for the site along with the territory’s land branch decision document which accepted the 14 recommendations set out in the YESAB assessment.

Those recommendations to be implemented at the site would become part of conditions set out in a city development permit.

If council approves first reading at its meeting next week, a public hearing on the zoning application would then be held at council’s Feb. 22 meeting.

A report on the hearing would follow at the March 7 council session, followed by second and third readings coming forward for a vote the following week.

Sporting a Castle Rock hockey jersey at Monday’s meeting, Coun. Rob Fendrick was quick to note, with a laugh, that his choice in clothing was purely coincidental – not an indication of where he stood on the quarry zoning.

Fendrick had borrowed the jersey for the meeting as members of council and the city’s upper management were each sporting hockey jerseys to show their enthusiasm for Rogers’ Hometown Hockey coming to Whitehorse this week.

The show, featuring veteran host Ron MacLean, will be staging several events and filming this weekend before airing on Sportsnet Sunday afternoon.

Coun. Dan Boyd was absent from Monday’s meeting.