Putting factory-built modular homes and trailers in the same zoning basket as trailers is outdated thinking and leaves Whitehorse behind other areas in Canada's housing market.

Jeff Wagner, a Whitehorse resident and the owner of Millennium Homes, said in an interview this morning he doesn't feel two modular homes he is proposing to build at 44 and 46 Drift Dr. in Copper Ridge should require a public hearing because they will look the same as traditional stick-built homes do.

'It's hard to believe you have to get a conditional use to put them in there,' he said.

'They classify modular construction the same in the city bylaws as (trailers).

'You could build a triangle with a flat roof, the ugliest house you've ever seen (in Copper Ridge), and there's nothing anyone could say about it.'

A conditional use requires a public hearing and approval, or disapproval, by council.

Modular homes are manufactured in a factory and are transported in pieces and put together on the building site.

Wagner said a modular home can be two stories, were already being used in British Columbia and Alberta, and have everything including kitchen fixtures added in the factory away from the elements.

Wagner said he also felt modular construction is cheaper and could be delivered and built more quickly than traditional stick-built houses about 90 days from the time of ordering.

'We built homes for U.S. Customs in Alaska. We built four, 1,800-square-foot homes with Arctic entries in five weeks,' he said.

'We started in September and finished in the third week of October and we did it with five guys,' he said.

The prices the homes would sell at would depend on an appraisal of their value he plans to have done, he said.

Planning manager Mike Gau said this morning the modular homes being proposed in Copper Ridge require a public hearing and a council decision because modular construction does not fall under the same zoning designation as stick-built homes do.

'In this case, it's a modular home that fits together and looks like a stick-built home.

'To be honest, I think (the zoning) has to do more with a typical trailer ... (modular homes) are caught in the same definition,' he said.

'The zoning (in Copper Ridge) doesn't provide for a straight-out mix with mobile homes or manufactured homes.'

The manufactured homes, he added, would be allowed to be built in the Arkell area if they met site restrictions.

Mike Racz, the president of the Yukon Real Estate Association, said this morning modular home construction shouldn't impact on the resale of the home.

'It shouldn't impact it as long as people know what they're buying.'

'They're all built to National Building Codes. The modular product may be a better product in the end because it is built in a controlled environment.'

Racz said that modular home construction may not have found its way into widespread use in the Yukon because of transportation costs.

Wayne Cunningham, the president of the Yukon Homebuilders Association, could not be reached for comment.