The only candidate to challenge current Mayor Bev Buckway in the last municipal election is back, but isn't seeking the mayoralty.

Al Fedoriak confirmed this morning he will likely seek a councillor's seat in the Oct. 18 city election rather than going after the mayoralty, as he did in 2009.

"People do have a choice,” he said of the mayoral race shaping up for the fall.

Last time around, Fedoriak ran in the interest of giving voters a choice of candidates for mayor. His campaign stressed the need for better leadership at city hall and a need to listen to Whitehorse residents on issues like residential development.

Fedoriak was defeated, with Buckway taking 2,540 votes compared to 1,580 for him.

This morning, Fedoriak said that prior to launching his own campaign in 2009, he had asked Rick Karp, the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, to put his name on the ballot for mayor.

Karp wasn't prepared to do so at that time, so Fedoriak let his own name stand.

This time, Karp was the first to announce his plans to seek the mayoralty.

Since then, Dan Curtis, Skills Canada Yukon's executive director, and consultant Scott Howell have also said they will run for the position.

Buckway is not planning to seek what would have been her third term as mayor and fourth on council.

Given that Karp's name will be on the ballot and that there's a race heating up, Fedoriak won't seek the position.

However, he noted that unless he sees the proper people running for the six councillor positions, he will put his name forward for one of those seats.

As was the case in 2009, Fedoriak wants to see development happen in a different way, with larger lots available to residents.

"I would like this community to be one where you can raise a family,” he said.

The last time decent-sized lots were made available was when Porter Creek and some sections of Copper Ridge were developed.

He pointed out that in recent travels to Russia, he's seen communities moving away from high-density development to larger lot sizes for homes.

"We're going backwards,” he said of the city's move to higher-density development.

Also on the home front, Fedoriak argued on one hand the city talks of promoting affordable housing while at the same time contributing to the higher prices of homes in the city through the cost of lot development and bringing in new building regulations that elevate the costs of homes.

He also argued the current council simply follows the direction of staff.

"They don't bring any ideas,” he said, as he went on to praise Howell for bringing forward an idea on how to make housing more affordable by having land holders continue to own properties that homeowners would build their houses on.

He noted that while Buckway is a nice person, she doesn't "bring anything to the table.”

And that means the city ends up moving forward with ideas coming from "experts” the government is overstaffed with.

He cited such proposals as keeping local dog groups out of city-run facilities, which came into effect in April over health and safety concerns.

On Monday night, the dog groups asked council to consider permitting them to continue using the mezzanine at the Takhini Arena at least until another location could be found.

City staff have said the new rule did not come out of complaints by area residents, but rather due to the health and safety issue.

While they noted that the dog hair gets into the building's duct work and spreads throughout the arena, Fedoriak questions whether they've ever heard of air filters.

He noted many people with allergies to dogs find ways to deal with them, including his own grandchildren, who have a pet canine.

Fedoriak, who commented on his age that he's "old enough to know better,” is retired after a career that saw him work as a field inspector for the Yukon government in the 1970s.

He then move into the private sector as general manager for Diversified Transportation Ltd., which provided school bus service in the city.

He and his wife live in Porter Creek.