DAWSON CITY – Deliberations over the future of Block Q, Ladue Estate, which has more commonly been known as the Goldrush Campground for almost 50 years, have been postponed once again by Dawson council. A special meeting will be held on or before July 6.

Possible sources of land for residential use, which is the other possibility for Block Q, were also a topic of discussion at a recent 5:30 p.m. committee of the whole meeting. That session stretched out to nearly 7:30 p.m. in advance of the actual council meeting, which was to have begun at 7 p.m.

Townsite Vacant Lots was one of three items on that agenda as the third item.

The discussion revealed that as many as 21 possibilities – maybe more – had been identified in the downtown and perimeter lands.

This is without even discussing Block Q, where lots could not legally be made available before next June under the terms of the current RV park lease.

The future of the Block Q was on the agenda of the full council meeting, but once again placed well down the list at item 10.

The resolution, forwarded from the last committee meeting, was there to be debated:

“Be it resolved that the committee of the whole recommends to council that a residential use be considered the most suitable use for Block Q, Ladue Estate as identified by the City of Dawson’s OCP (Official Community Plan) designation and that the committee of the whole direct administration to:

1. explore options for the sale of Block Q for residential housing with the timeline;

2. propose a transition plan for block Q with the timeline;

3. come back to council with progress reports and initial findings no later than July 31, 2021.”

It quickly became clear that this resolution would not get easy council approval.

Coun. Bill Kendrick had voted for it at the committee meeting. He had a laundry list of amendments that would have changed the work required by the town’s administrative staff, mostly by asking them to outline possiblities rather than propose actual actions to be taken.

Quite a bit of time passed discussing these options.

Mayor Wayne Potoroka pitched taking the resolution back to its original wording, which was “that committee of the whole recommends to council that a residential use be considered the most suitable use for Block Q, Ladue Estate site and that administration prepare for the sale of residential lots on Block Q, Ladue estate.”

“We just might have to live with the campground for a while,” the mayor said.

Kendrick maintained that this original wording was redundant, since the town’s latest OCP already said that, so that proposal did not fly.

Coun. Natasha Ayub had previously eviscerated the Stantec study on which Potoroka and Coun. Molly Shore based their decisions.

Ayub said the town should be spending its limited administrative time on developing the residential possibilities discussed earlier in the evening.

As well, she put great stock in the lobbying effort in support of the in-town RV park concept (no matter who ran it) clearly stated by the tourism industry through the Klondike Visitors Association and by local merchants through the local chamber of commerce.

For the first time in a public meeting, Potoroka was heard to say that anyone thinking that “for sale” signs would go up on the Block Q lots as soon as council made a decision was mistaken.

At various points along the way, in Facebook threads and in letters to council, people have suggested that Goldrush should be subject to tender every two years.

Current owner Dianne Brooks pointed out that their business and the lot lease are two separate items.

The business cannot be tendered as the town doesn’t own it, and the lot lease is useless as an RV park without the sewer and water and electrical infrastructure which belongs to the business, along with the office, washrooms and laundry facilities in their building.

Pat Brooks told council that his research indicated that getting a mortgage on Block Q land, given the lot prices and costs of site preparation, seemed to be an unlikely proposition.

Potoroka indicated there are ways to access funding outside of the banking system, and has gone so far as to say that the town might sell the lots more cheaply than it could, but, shifting the discussion, also said it would be good to know what the Brooks were prepared to do.

They have indicated that they would like to get back to the terms of their original lease, which would have run out in 2026, prior to the two-year termination notice passed by council last May.

After much discussion, the mayor began to advance the notion that this issue would need to be tabled to another meeting.

Coun. Stephen Johnson agreed and, with support from Ayub, proposed tabling it until Oct. 21 – which is the date of the next municipal elections.

That motion did not pass, although it initially appeared that it had – and so another motion, to table the discussion to a meeting to be held before or on July 6, was passed.

A definite date has not been set.