An estimated $2.56-million proposal by the Yukon Agricultural Association to build an exhibition and fairgrounds has come under intense scrutiny.

There is mounting concern about the application for 45.45 hectares inside the old forestry reserve along the Takhini Hot Springs Road. The application is currently being reviewed by the territory's land application review committee (LARC).

And there is also criticism of the process used to award an estimated $256,000-contract to an executive member of the association to manage the project.

Association member Mike Blumenschein said the issue of the location is secondary to what he describes as a feasibility study that is seriously flawed and can't be used to draw any meaningful conclusions.

The disease factor or lack of its discussion has left a gaping hole in the study that describes the proposed Yukon Exhibition and Fairgrounds as the right step at the right time for the territory's agricultural industry, Blumenschein contends.

He maintains he's not fundamentally opposed to such a proposal if it's financially feasible.

'But I don't think this thing is,' he said Thursday in an interview. 'I do not think it is feasible project, and I think the feasibility study is flawed.'

The $20,000-study commissioned by the association, he believes, is missing critical information on a couple of fronts or more. The most flagrant is its silence on the issue of the mosquito-borne equine infectious anemia (EIA).

So dear is the concern over EIA to many local equestrian riders, that asking them to share the exhibition and fairgrounds with untested rodeo horses from Alberta would be simply out of the question, he said.

Yet, Blumenschein points out, the feasibility study outlines equestrian and rodeo users as essential sources of revenue to cover annual operating and maintenance costs.

The equestrian community in Whitehorse has put an EIA free zone around itself, he explained.

Blumenschein said the riding facility operated near the Mountain View Golf Course by the Western Riders Association is designated as an EIA-free facility.

If a rider from out of town wanted to pop in for some barrel racing, for example, he or she would have to produce a valid certificate showing the horse had tested negative for EIA in the last six months.

It's not likely a rodeo outfit hired from down south would agree to have its horses tested before being allowed on the fairgrounds being proposed by the agricultural association, Blumenschein maintains.

He said perfectly healthy horses that serve their owners well can carry the bug for life, without ever displaying any symptoms.

Blumenschein said if an otherwise healthy horse tests positive, however, federal law requires the animal be put down or kept in quarantine for life.

It's not likely riders are going to chance testing their trusty steed for a weekend of rodeoing in Whitehorse, suggests the Takhini River Road hay farmer, who also does contract farming work.

He said the same applies to anticipated revenue for boarding horses, either local or those just passing through, and to the hundreds of horses owned by the territory's big game outfitting industry.

Blumenschein said the financial aspect of the feasibility study cannot be called adequate without addressing what he maintains is a glaring discrepancy.

In addition to the EIA issue, the study predicts revenue from local horse owners who will rent the facility as well as board their animals there, he said.

Blumenschein acknowledges the return of 98 questionnaires from 197 mailed out that indicate there is solid support for purchasing yearly memberships, renting the facility and boarding animals there.

It's one thing to indicate support. But it's quite another to shell out the money when the time comes, particularly when many horse owners already have their own boarding and riding facilities, or already board their horses at facilities suitable to them, he said.

The agricultural association feasibility study is proposing a 31,000-square-foot indoor riding arena with office space, an upper level mezzanine viewing area, tack rooms, washrooms, bleachers and a hay storage area.

On the fairgrounds outdoors, it is proposed there be an outdoor arena, rough stock pens, a one-kilometre running track, overnight camping space, a parking area large to accommodate 1,240 vehicles and an area similar in size to host events like a larger Klondyke Harvest Fair or midway.

The proposal would provide an area for a farmer's market. It calls for the construction of an onsite residence that would be provided to the caretaker free of charge in exchange for the labour required to maintain the facility.

It is a facility that 'is long overdue and would enhance the quality of life and health benefits from many people,' says the feasibility study.

In addition to providing the agricultural industry with a hallmark home, the exhibition and fairgrounds offers the community in general a new and large indoor space for everything from concerts to archery.

Such a facility, the study maintains, would stimulate greater interest and participation in riding, just as similar facilities in other jurisdictions has.

The feasibility study says the agricultural association's proposal deserves its fair use of public funding, just like other recreational interests in the territory, such as swimming, soccer, tennis, cycling and skiing.

Agricultural association president Cliff Hanna acknowledges Blumenschein's concern over the issue of EIA. However, he's certain measures could be put in place to accommodate everybody's interests.

It is the intent to have the exhibition and fairgrounds designated as an EIA-free zone, though there is the possibility of lifting the requirement for one rodeo weekend, for instance, Hanna suggested in an interview Thursday.

The association president says the feasibility study couldn't have been expected to look at every single issue under a microscope.

'It was not geared toward that level of detail,' he said.

Others, however, have also challenged the feasibility study.

The Yukon Conservation Society, which is dead-set against using the old forestry research reserve to provide a home for the facility, says the study makes a few assumptions that might not stand up.

The anticipated annual operation and maintenance cost of $27,200 is likely low, the society maintains in its four-page submission to the land application review committee. That body is scheduled to hold a hearing on the matter Feb. 10.

In reality, says the society's submission, it's not likely the association will find a caretaker who will work several hours a day for rent, and an estimated annual heating cost of $7,000 is also likely low.

The society also questions whether the community will endorse moving the Klondyke Harvest Fair from its downtown location at Rotary Peace Park to an out-of-town location.

'Upon close reading, the study is troubling,' Karen Baltgailis, the conservation society's forestry coordinator, says in her recent press release.

'The economic data suggest quite strongly that the fairgrounds will not be financially self-sustaining.'

The feasibility study, however, maintains that even in the worst case scenario, annual revenue can be expected to be at least $31,850, but could even be more than double that.

But even more troubling for the society is the use of what it describes as an important area for forest-related research, just as the territory is moving to reinvigorate its forest industry.

'The fairgrounds would take away one-sixth of the approximately 600 acres of research forest, and would pretty much eliminate the one, good-sized mature pine stand,' Baltgailis maintains.

Baltgailis is also critical of how the feasibility study gives what she describes as a cursory dismissal to two other locations a 45-hectare site across from the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and an area below Haeckel Hill in the wake of the request from LARC to show that the agricultural association has also considered other sites.

The Ta'an Kwach'an Council has also filed stiff opposition against the proposed area.

In its letter to LARC, the Lake Laberge first nation points out it was steered away from the site while making its land claim selection by assurances from government that the area dedicated to forestry purposes.

'TKC, however, requests that the research forest be retained in the public domain for public uses with broad sustainable benefits to local and area residents and that the lands branch accept no further spot land applications for parcel,' says Ta'an's submission.

It suggests that government steer the association to other developed pieces of agricultural property, or perhaps lease a location from an existing land owner.

But the feasibility study is clear, that the project is viable as long as: the project is fully funded with no need to repay capital; the site is within 20 kilometres of downtown; the O & M comes in at the $27,200 and that it can be covered on a user-pay basis.

See story opposite regarding the issue of the contract award for managing the project.