A July 18 closing date on bids to buy the properties at the former Motorways trucking yard means development won't likely start this year, one city councillor believes.

"I'm really disappointed we couldn't get things underway six months earlier and we should have," Coun. Doug Graham argued at Monday night's council meeting.

A report to council suggests the July 18 deadline means it would still be possible for developers to start construction this season.

That deadline is too late though for work to start this year, Graham suggested after being presented with the timelines for the sale of the waterfront properties off Second Avenue by planning manager Mike Gau.

The schedule was presented to council a week after members voted to authorize sale agreements for the first five properties and three weeks after the sale policy was changed so that the property will now go to the highest bidder.

With that done, the city will now focus on having approval for easements at the site in place by June 23 while lawyers review the request for bids, Gau said.

"Before the request for bids can be released, easement agreements between the city and Yukon Electrical must be brought before council for approval through a bylaw process. This step is necessary in order for the easement

agreements to run with the title after the sale of the property," reads the administrative report.

Underhill Geomatics is currently surveying for the easement agreements.

A public information meeting about the sale is then scheduled for June 26 with the request for bids being released the next day.

"Once all the documents have been completed, a public meeting will be held to explain the bid process, relevant (Official Community Plan) and zoning issues and the implications for developers," reads the report to council.

Members will vote next week about an agreement with Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd. to deal with above-ground utility boxes on four of the lots and underground utilities which run through four properties and on a corner of another property that will be up for sale later.

While the city has considered relocating the underground cables around the outside of the new lots, the cost of that will have to be weighed against adjustments that would have to be made to the lots if the easements are left as is.

The easements were put through the fronts of four properties next to Second Avenue because of the trees that were near the site, land development officer Pat Ross explained.

"I think there was this decision made to avoid taking all those newly-planted trees down," he said of the properties next to Second Avenue. "So basically, the cable went in the ground behind the trees."

Meanwhile, plans would see other cables flowing under the middle of three other properties relocated, Ross said.

The cables would come out of the electrical substation on a corner lot, run through First Avenue, be turned left on Black Street and then right onto the existing easement, he said.

"The plan is to unencumber those. We have not done that yet and there's budgeting work that needs to be done and some lead time to give Yukon Electric," Ross said.

It's not expected the situation will impact the value of a corner lot that's set to be among the first Motorways properties to go on sale because the easement is only through a small corner section of the property, Ross said.

Council will vote on proceeding with the easement agreement bylaw next week.

Mayor Bev Buckway and Coun. Jan Stick were absent from Monday's meeting.