Photo by Whitehorse Star
Next Whistle Bend lot lottery set for Jan. 27
More single-family lots are available through lottery in the Whistle Bend subdivision, the Yukon government announced Wednesday.
More single-family lots are available through lottery in the Whistle Bend subdivision, the Yukon government announced Wednesday.
The 55 lots range in size from 4,822 square feet or 448 square metres to 9,623 square feet, or 894 square metres.
Prices go from $104,262 plus the GST to $228,863 plus the GST.
A government press release said applications for the land lottery are being accepted until 4:30 p.m. Jan. 23. The lottery will be held Jan. 27.
Those interested in having a look at the lots will have to do so on foot, as vehicle access is restricted beyond the entrance to the construction site. Walkways will be kept clear.
Access to the area will be prohibited for two weeks next spring while the contractor is on site completing the work, the release says.
It says releasing the land now will provide successful applicants with time to work with the city on development permits in advance of the construction season.
It’s not expected permits will be issued until late June or early July, after the city has officially accepted that portion of the subdivision development from the Yukon government, says the release.
It says the early snowfall and cold weather prevented the completion of construction, particularly the paving and some minor concrete and grading work.
Of the 55 lots in this lottery, the 25 smallest will front onto the first green street development in Whistle Bend.
Instead of a regular paved street, there will be a green streetscape for pedestrian use only. Vehicle access will be along the lane ways at the rear of the lots.
The first batch of lots in phase four were released for lottery last summer. There were 246 applicants for 42 single-family lots and 10 duplex lots.
The government was expected to release the last 120 lots in phase four before the end of the year but was delayed.
Communications analyst Bonnie Venton-Ross of the Department of Community Services said Thursday the remaining 63 or so phase four lots are expected to be ready for the lottery next summer or fall.
Included in the remaining phase four lots are 33 single-family lots, 27 townhouse units and three or more lots for larger multi-family apartment buildings.
The 166 lots in phase five could be available as early as next fall, she said.
There are seven phases to Whistle Bend.
For the smallest of the lots in the current lottery, successful applicants will be required to provide a minimum down payment of 20 per cent of the lot’s value, or $20,852, plus $5,213 for GST.
Applicants will also be required to pay the city a development cost charge of $3,641 when if finalizes the sale with the Yukon government.
For the largest lot – a pie-shaped lot on a curve in the street – applicants will need to provide a minimum down payment of $45,773 plus $11,443 in GST, along with the development cost charge to the city.
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Comments (18)
Up 7 Down 0
A. Fah-Sodd on Dec 27, 2019 at 7:00 pm
Yay! Atom gets it! Atom for president! Perhaps it’s not the neighbours toilet that people can hear being flushed but rather the hopes and dreams of would be home owners coming to grips with their unfortunate realities?
There is irony here though, the flushing sound, startling the enslaved mortgage-masses out of their deep thoughts, ruminative meanderings, punctuated with with the painful conclusion that, I paid what for this s**t?
Up 12 Down 1
Atom on Dec 26, 2019 at 11:16 pm
David and Anie..
You bought there and you're all defensive.
Fact. You have The smallest lots in Whitehorse.
Most folks want enough room to live on their property. Park a trailer or have a shop. Christ some storage!
Paying to just park on the street and hear your neighbors toilet flush is a rip off at the prices you pay in Whistlebend.
Up 7 Down 0
A. Fah-Sodd on Dec 26, 2019 at 4:48 pm
Dear David - You did indicate that with the “rapidly growing population it's not difficult to realize that this is not a sustainable land use approach.”
Why isn’t it sustainable? Your words sound like political rhetoric rather than reason or analysis. Because you say it is so does not make it so. You are likely assuming the same technologies today will exist tomorrow? Why can’t everyone have their own vehicle? Footprint? This is a tired argument that is now essentially meaningless. Again, things will be different tomorrow then they are today and the concerns you advance now will not be here tomorrow - so...
You also offer the following: “The more Whitehorse grows in population the denser it will have to get, this is the unfortunate truth and there is no way around it.”
You use words like “sustainability” and “truth” and “no way” and refer to Calgary as an example of your truth without acknowledging the fact it is being done and it is sustainable by virtue of its existence. They have cars, trucks and an LRT system.
Your logic is imploding on itself and we have only just begun. May I humbly suggest that this current state of affairs that we find ourselves in has occurred because of a “densification” problem. Perhaps city hall or YG is just too dense to make good land use policy? That sounds more like the “truth” you were looking for.
Short sighted and immature? You’ve been watching the papers right? You’ve seen the BS coming out of our Liberal government leaders mouths? The absolute millions wasted on poor decision making... Right? What kind of government creates the same conditions it says it is trying to fix within and outside government while targeting those who are saying - Hey, this is wrong...
The absolute level of narcissism it must require to invalidate, discount and run rough shod over everyone else to advance your whims. The Yukon and Whitehorse have a “density” problem all right but it is not due to land use or sprawling urbanization. Perhaps we should provide mirrors for everyone involved in politics with the inscription - Maybe I am The Problem?
Stop adding fuel to their fire!
Up 5 Down 13
David on Dec 25, 2019 at 5:49 pm
@ A. Fah-Sodd - You seem to have misinterpreted my earlier post, nowhere did I say Yukon has an overpopulation problem. I was simply trying to point out that if we were to give everyone a large country residential style parcel of land this would make the overall footprint of Whitehorse larger than if densify the current footprint. Then, by the time Whitehorse hits 55,000 people, the city will be roughly the same area as Calgary currently is. This will lead to a higher dependency on vehicles, increased commuting times, and significantly increased traffic problems. Of course we have enough space to do this in theory but there are many other consequences to going down this land use approach that I feel most people don't take into consideration before they take to the internet to complain.
Up 6 Down 10
Anie on Dec 25, 2019 at 8:39 am
Davis, you are absolutely correct that every new subdivision is criticized until the next one comes along, and I remember it happening with every subdivision you mentioned, I wonder how many of these posters have even been to Whistle Bend since it was developed. And I wonder what they dislike so much, the trees, the cleanliness, the walking paths, the well kept yards? Clearly residents of Whistle Bend take pride in their homes and neighbourhood. Maybe that's what people resent.
Up 15 Down 11
Davis on Dec 24, 2019 at 8:57 am
It seems to be the fashionable thing to do to hate on the newest subdivision, it just happens to be Whistle Bend currently. Same thing happened with Ingram, then before that Copper Ridge, then before that Arkell and Logan and Granger, then before that Porter Creek south...etc. Pretty much every subdivision that has ever been built in or around Whitehorse received a fair bit of criticism at the time but after it's all done no one seems to mind anymore. People are funny.
Up 12 Down 5
A. Fah-Sodd on Dec 23, 2019 at 11:34 pm
David - You are absolutely incorrect. It is ideas like the one you are reinforcing that allow the fah-sodd to continue. It is a narrative of control through which you are providing the rope for your own hanging. How about we get back to now and engage in some reality.
The overpopulation myth is but one length of rope that people are willing to supply for their own bondage:
https://www.quora.com/Could-the-entire-earth-population-fit-in-Alaska
Up 18 Down 1
Guncache on Dec 23, 2019 at 9:22 pm
Crazy prices for postage stamp lots. To top it off you have to pay $5200- to over $11,000- in GST and development cost of over $3200-. Then you can save up to buy some plywood and 2 X 8's. Good luck in finding a contractor
Up 12 Down 3
Always Questions on Dec 23, 2019 at 7:25 pm
Whistlebend subdivision is the result of crisis management by the CoW.
What I'd like to know is where are they going next? Have they learned their lesson and are they planning already for the next major subdivision? Will they actually take the time to identify, plan and design something Yukoners want compared to "this is it, take it or leave it, WB" option?
WB is filling up because there are no other choices and YTG & CoW are laughing all the way to the bank as purchasers sign away their lives.
I admit I'm still a little bitter about losing the miles & miles of trails that used to be in the area, lol. THEN I read about the whiners of unleashed dogs and snow machines and quads using the trails and I get even madder!
Up 10 Down 7
Josey Wales on Dec 23, 2019 at 7:24 pm
Hey Rosie...good for ewe.
...since ya felt to delve into a personality ya know nothing of all personal like.
I do not live in my moms basement, been dead for years.
Question...can ewe see your feet without a mirror?
Up 17 Down 18
Rosie on Dec 23, 2019 at 4:12 pm
@Josey Wales
I've been in WB for 4 years. Never once have I smelled 'poo'. And I've golfed out here for over 25 years.
There are better than a thousand souls out here now, all quietly content, building families and memories while you continue wringing your trembling, sweaty, anxious hands in your mom's Riverdale basement. Just waiting for her to deliver Tots n' Nugs to your keyboard warrior lair. Maybe one day one you will rescue a fair maiden or at the very least find some happiness creep into your cold, black heart.
Up 18 Down 8
David too on Dec 23, 2019 at 3:05 pm
@David...I don’t think everbody's saying they want a big lot but some people would like to have that option. Look around, we are surrounded by trees, perhaps you live here to be peeing distance from your neighbour but there are lots of people who hate that and want their own space. It’s doable but the city refuses to open anything like that.
Up 14 Down 24
David on Dec 23, 2019 at 11:09 am
So many short-sighted and immature negative comments about Whistle Bend and densification in Whitehorse as a whole. Of course everyone wants a nice big country residential property close to town, but unfortunately when you look at Whitehorse's current and rapidly growing population it's not difficult to realize that this is not a sustainable land use approach.
What do you want Whitehorse to look like in 50 years? Look at Calgary for example, everyone there wants their own detached single family house with a yard, and look how massively spread out the town is because of this, it literally takes an hour (on a good day) to drive from one end of town to the other! Now consider this fact: Calgary is 24 times more dense than Whitehorse! Don't get me wrong, I would also love to have my own country residential lot close to Whitehorse but I understand it is not sustainable for everyone to have this. I don't particularly like Whistle Bend either, but I agree with the City it is the lesser of two evils. The more Whitehorse grows in population the denser it will have to get, this is the unfortunate truth and there is no way around it.
Up 15 Down 6
steve on Dec 23, 2019 at 10:06 am
This is the ugliest development I have ever seen. The roads are over engineered and scalping the land was a huge mistake. I hope that stupid planning department never makes the same mistake again or they let the planners and design developers go.
As to the cost, the government could easily sell the land for $50k and put rules in around that such as its your primary home for the next 10 years otherwise the property will be sold. Then it would piss off their developer and real estate masters so that won't happen.
Up 30 Down 3
A. Fah-Sodd on Dec 21, 2019 at 11:39 pm
In The New Yukon: No one could afford to buy a whole acre or two. Lottery? GTFOH - This should tell you all you need to know about the people who are running things. LMAO - Lottery... Who’s buying those tickets. Sign me up to win an endless mortgage - Not!
It makes me wonder if the elevators in the Yukon go to the top floor? It’s a certainty that the one at 2071 Second Ave does not.
We live in a time where so many people stupidly follow the leader because they really “don’t” want to know better... And it’s not because they are actually stupid it is because they are intellectually lazy.
Up 29 Down 8
Josey Wales on Dec 21, 2019 at 9:49 pm
What a ugly photograph of a generic planned by fools “hood”.
Newbies call it Whistle Bend I suppose...
To this hillbilly, pooville it will always be.
Who has not grown up with the “don’t put all your eggs in the same basket...” spiel.
Clearly none of our genius planners, and other layers of land pimps did.
What so so many idiots have done to this once lovely town, really should make one puke.
Enjoy pooville, every phase of it.
Just do not forget, might mean expanding that sewage lagoon directly across the river.
Oh yeah....merry Christmas folks, yes even my haters.
Up 49 Down 2
The new Yukon? on Dec 21, 2019 at 10:26 am
Is this our future 'wilderness city'?
Cookie cutter small (by Yukon standards) sub 5000 sq.ft. lots?
Electric heat forced on everyone with Atco/Yukon Energy increasing rates yearly?
Too bad we don't have any land in the Yukon where one could purchase an acre or two, have a well and septic field and use baseboards for convenience not necessity. Are those days gone forever?
Lastly, don't kid yourselves even at $104k for the smallest lot, unless you are building the house yourself the final product on those lots will not be less than $450k for a modest house. That is not affordable unless you are bringing in $120k a year pre tax for a small family, not with utilities, food and gas prices these days.
Up 36 Down 4
Matthew on Dec 21, 2019 at 7:08 am
This is NOT the answer to this massive housing crisis we have..