Green living could take on a whole new meaning if Meadow Lakes Golf Course owner Jeff Luehmann gets his way.

Luehmann is hoping to build four fourplexes and one sixplex on a 2.5-hectare parcel of land adjacent to Meadow Lakes.

A proposal to rezone the land was brought to city council's standing committee on Monday evening.

"We thought it would be a great opportunity to put forth a small housing development, especially under these circumstances, with the shortage of housing in Whitehorse,” Luehmann said at the meeting.

The 22-unit development — also known as Hidden Haven — would go in by holes seven and nine. Each unit would be 2,000 square feet and sit on 0.5 hectares.

Currently, the land is zoned for Commercial Recreation.

"The existing Comercial Recreation zoning reflects the golf course and is also used in other areas of the city, such as the ski hill and the various sports fields in town,” Mike Gau, the city's planning manager, told the meeting.

"Essentially, the proposal is for multiple housing in a country residential setting. So it's rather unqiue. We've never had that before.”

Coun. Florence Roberts was concerned that the development could lead to a similar fate for the golf course itself, should it become a "burden”.

"Will we see the golf course coming up next for housing?” she asked.

Leuhmann said that, if he ever tried to develop the golf course, the government would likely step in.

"The Yukon territorial government actually has a cavet on the golf course itself that it cannot be subdivided,” he said at the meeting.

"We worked with them... and the city, to come to an agreement on this particular piece of property because it does protect the golf course.”

Luehmann said he wants Hidden Haven to cater to golfers, using the development's location to give them the best of both worlds.

"It's urban, but it's rural,” Luehmann said in an interview Tuesday.

In addition to targeting golfers, the development may target a specific demographic.

"We may or may not cater to the 50-plus crowd,” Luehmann said. "We're debating that now.”

If council accepts the proposal, Luehmann hopes they can get building right away.

"If everything goes great with council... we hope to break ground in August.”

Luehmann wants to open the first unit this time next year, but noted that the development's timeline may have to be postponed due to the region's current housing crunch.

"The biggest challenge is finding someone to build it,” he said.

While he currently has bulders in mind, he added, he wants to lock them in before they move on to other projects.