Community Services Minister Glenn Hart has sent city council an ultimatum: change your mind on an access road or the proposed Whitehorse Copper country residential subdivision doesn't go anywhere.

Council gave final approval this past spring to what has been an extremely volatile proposal for a country residential development of 110 lots and 25 industrial lots.

Attached to the May 10 development agreement with the Yukon government was council's requirement that the government remove the plan for an access road on the Alaska Highway directly across from the Meadow Lakes Golf Course.

Hart, however, wrote in a July 7 letter that the government would only be prepared to move forward on the project if council removed that condition, and permitted an access road.

The road, Hart told council in his letter, is required to provide safe and direct access to the main part of the subdivision, to ensure faster emergency response time, and offers a safer line of sight than even the proposed access from McRae.

A Meadow Lakes access would also provide for more direct routing for school buses, and would be better positioned to handle higher volumes of traffic, the minister writes.

'If the city is prepared to alter the necessary approvals prior to the commencement of Phase 3 of the development scheduled to start in the summer of 2007, and will confirm that in writing, we could begin work immediately in hopes of having lots available this year.'

The matter was before council Monday night. It will entertain a motion next week to bring the development agreement back for reconsideration.

Hart was out of the office today and unavailable to comment on what would happen to the Whitehorse Copper proposal if council doesn't reverse its position whether it would be placed on the shelf permanently or otherwise.

The government, as the developer of land in the city, has spent approximately $900,000 advancing the project over the last decade. The proposal has met tremendous resistance from area residents.

Gerry Gerein of the Department of Community Services said this morning that with the proper approvals in place, it's expected 22 country residential lots could be available this year, along with 25 industrial lots.

The bulk of the development would see 75 country residential lots delivered to the market place next year, and 13 lots in 2007, he said.

Gerein said it's estimated the cost per country residential lot would be approximately $75,000, and between $80,000 and $90,000 for each of the serviced industrial lots, based on the cost of development.

'If the window of opportunity passes, so will the potential for availability because, as you know, our construction season is so short,' said the acting director of community development.

Mayor Ernie Bourassa said this morning somewhat sarcastically that if the government is proposing lots this year, they probably wouldn't be ready until December.

The request to have council reverse its position has to run through the regular process. That alone will take at least until mid-August, and more likely into September, he said.

The mayor said he was opposed to the access road across from the golf course based on safety concerns raised by Wolf Creek and other area residents, and he has not changed his mind.

With a proposed access point across from McRae, and access of the Mount Sima Road, council felt there was sufficient access without the Meadow Lakes access, and that there was the flexibility to heed the safety concerns of area residents, he explained.

Bourassa said local climatic conditions in the very area of the proposed access are known to cause treacherous black ice in the winter.

'Council is going to have to make a decision whether we stand by the position we took or do we change it?' Bourassa said.

'At this point, we know we have a lot shortage and we are going to have to make some decisions.'

Though the stretch of highway in front of the golf course is straight, there have been several winter-time collisions along that section.

Coun. Dave Austin, however, said this morning the sight lines for the Meadow Lakes access would be far better than what currently exists for a couple of other roads coming onto the highway in the immediate area.

It was Austin who agreed last night to let his name stand as the council member who will bring forward a motion next week to have council reconsider the matter of the access road.

He said he supports the proposed road, and does indeed see Hart's letter as an ultimatum.

'No road, no subdivision,' he said matter-of-factly. 'That is the way I read it, but at least by bringing this back, we at least get another chance to talk to the government.'

When council approved the development agreement May 9 with the requirement that no access road be built, Coun. Dave Stockdale reminded his council colleagues the government had already expressed its resistance to cutting out the road.

By prohibiting the road in the development agreeement, Stockdale cautioned, council was drawing a line in the sand.

Local real estate agents and developers have warned recently that a steady inventory of residential lots must be maintained or prices will soar even further.

Numbers produced last month by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics show that the average retail price of country residential homes has jumped by almost $60,000 in the last year, from an average of $189,800 for four properties sold in the first quarter of 2004 to an average of $246,700 for eight properties sold in the first quarter of this year.

The last major country residential development by the Yukon government, either inside city limits or on the periphery, was the 24 lot Spruce Hill subdivision, which was put on the market over five years ago.