Work is continuing on the city’s plans for the downtown and Marwell neighbourhoods.

Planning staff are expecting to start the next round of public engagement in the coming weeks.

The plans focus on the future of each of the neighbourhoods.

City planner Ben Campbell said this week an online survey will be released in early September.

It will be focused on the vision and actions that could become part of the draft plan, coming out of earlier consultation.

Several events – including a plan-a-thon in June – were held earlier to look at the future of the two neighbourhoods.

The city then released a What We Heard document (available on the city’s website) showcasing what input was gathered.

In that process, the city heard the importance of trails through the city as well as the Yukon River and the need for connections along the river, among many other comments.

With that information, staff are now formulating the next phase of input, with the online survey planned.

There will also be a number of events geared to area residents, such as a barbecue, along with having a presence at the Fireweed Community Market during two Thursday evenings in September.

Another workshop event is planned for The Old Fire Hall in October that will help direct the action items for the plans.

After the public input events through the fall, work will begin on coming up with the draft plans.

An internal review will be done by the city before the draft plan is released to the public early in the new year, Campbell said.

Input gathered from the drafts will then be used to make changes before a final drafts on both neighbourhood plans come forward to council for adoption. It’s expected the final plan would be presented to council around next February or March.

From there, the city would work on implementing the plans while also using the plans to inform the upcoming review of the Official Community Plan.

The city will continue updating the public on the work underway for the plans with information available at: http://www.whitehorse.ca/departments/planning-building-services-/plans-and-implementation/downtown-plan