If city council doesn't hit its target with the new zoning bylaw, Coun. Ranj Pillai is afraid Old Town property owners interested in new investments will pay the price.

Pillai emphasized his concern Monday evening, when city council voted to freeze any further consideration of residential developments larger than a duplex on regular single-family lots in the Old Town section of downtown.

The moratorium will be in place until the zoning bylaw finishes going through the current revision process, which also includes a new proposal to allow urban chicken coops, for example.

Council is also hoping it can use the time to revisit the discussion regarding what residents of the Old Town want to see with new housing initiatives.

City manager Dennis Shewfelt told council Monday the intent is to have the updated bylaw passed by the end of June.

The Old Town is defined as the area stretching from the Pioneer Cemetery on Wood Street north to Oglivie Street, and from Sixth Avenue to the clay cliffs.

Pillai said even the end of June is late for property owners to start going through the planning, design and approval stage for something larger than a duplex.

Coun. Florence Roberts echoed Pillai's concern, suggesting she would only support the motion for a moratorium if she could be assured property owners would have time to complete their projects this year.

Roberts and Pillai were the only two who voted against the moratorium.

The moratorium was put forward by Coun. Kirk Cameron following the recent neighbourhood debate over special permits approved Jan. 30 for an eight-plex on Ogilvie and a five-plex at Jarvis Street and Seventh Avenue.

Cameron has described the debate as emotional and divisive. He said he was not prepared to entertain another conditional-use application until it was clear what type of new housing residents of the Old Town want to see.

Residential lots in the Old Town allow for single-family homes, or duplexes.

There are provisions, however, for city council to grant special permission for larger developments, just like it did for the three-plex built by Habitat for Humanity at the top of Wheeler Street.

With the two applications approved Jan. 30, council has now issued special permits for seven multi-unit developments in the last four years.

But the Old Town plan developed through public consultation and subsequently incorporated into the revised 2010 Official Community Plan (OCP) states a preference to maintain the single-family housing flavour and structural design.

Some, on the other hand, have suggested as the 50- and 60-year-old homes in the Old Town come down, it's difficult financially to replace them with just another single-family dwelling, while ignoring the potential gains available through multi-unit developments.

And while the OCP recognizes the Old Town single-family character, it also encourages increased residential density throughout the city to take advantage of existing infrastructure like water and sewer services.

Coun. Dave Stockdale said he would support the Old Town moratorium on conditional use applications for larger residential developments, but he's skeptical.

The same sort of initiative to determine what Takhini North residents wanted to see in their neighbourhood took a lot longer than a couple of months, he said.

"I am not opposed to the moratorium, but this is going to take a lot of work, and I do not know what positive is going to come out of it,” Stockdale said.

Cameron assured his colleagues the residents of Old Town are ready and eager to have the discussion and make a decision.

City staff, said Roberts, should go the extra mile to make sure everybody knows what's going on, particularly Old Town property owners who don't live in Whitehorse or the Yukon.

The city manager said if the Old Town residential issue is to be revisited in the new zoning bylaw by the end of June, staff need to have a decision in April.

Along with the backyard chicken question and other matters, the zoning bylaw review is also dealing with a moratorium implemented by city council last summer on the subdivision of country residential properties.

The freeze came after council had approved two applications in the new Whitehorse Copper subdivision.

There was concern expressed about the uncertainty of increased pressure on the groundwater table, absorption of more septic fields, mounting traffic and the effect on the general desire for a low-density neighbourhood environment.