If a gas pipeline proposed to come through the Yukon is signed off, property values in the City of Whitehorse would begin a roller coaster ride that would end in the basement.

That's the opinion of Mayor Ernie Bourassa.

He says he's concerned the project, which could see as many as 10,000 workers come to the area, would require a development investment which would send housing prices skyrocketing in the short-term and then drop the bottom out of the market, if and when, transient workers move on.

'We're going to have an unprecedented infrastructure demand that we are not going to be able to handle,' Bourassa said in response to questions from the Star recently.

'Porter Creek would get filled up as soon as we opened it,' he said.

The city's policy of keeping a two-year lot supply would likely be compromised, he added.

He said he's concerned because pipeline workers would likely have the money to invest in the city short-term, but would just as likely depart when the project was finished. That would leave the city with hundreds, if not thousands, of empty houses in their wake.

Those vacant houses, he added, would send the city's property values into the toilet.

'People are going to be left with a house that's worth 50 per cent of what they paid for it,' he said.

'We're experiencing three- to four-per-cent growth a year. If you have all these people come, you'll be seeing 10 or 20 per cent, and you can't manage that.'

In an interview this morning, local real estate agent Dan Lang said he believes the impact a pipeline, if it goes ahead, would have on the city could be managed with the proper planning.

'If a deal were made today, it would be a number of years before construction started ... so we could plan for it,' Lang said.

Whitehorse has more immediate land concerns with proposed developments being turned down and many Whitehorsians subscribing to the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) school of thought, he believes.

'It just seem like NIMBYism wins the day ... I expect the city and the YTG to act in a responsible manner and go about their business,' Lang said.

He wants to see some concrete development plans soon.

Asked for his views on the subject, city councillor Doug Graham said he isn't sure how a gas pipeline scenario would play out, but he's a little wary at the prospect from an infrastructure perspective.

'I don't think there would be any way to absorb these people short-term,' Graham said.

A lot would depend on whether the workers were based primarily in camps or in Whitehorse, he said.

Graham also said if the proposed Alaska-British Columbia railway came through the city, that could also soften the impact on city infrastructure.

In early November, Premier Dennis Fentie signed on to an initiative which will see the B.C., Alberta, Alaska and Yukon governments work in co-operation to get the Alaska Highway pipeline project off the ground.

With the agreement, the energy ministers of the Yukon, Alaska and the two provinces will be tasked with developing a joining strategic plan to prepare for the pipeline.

Members of each government will be meeting in March to review the work of the energy ministers on the strategic plan.

Whitehorse has been through pipeline fever in the past. In the mid-1970s, plans for new subdivisions were made in anticipation of a pipeline coming through the city. They included laying the groundwork for today's Granger, Arkell, Logan and Copper Ridge neighbourhoods.

However, after extensive consultations across the North, Justice Thomas Berger recommended a 25-year moratorium on any pipeline construction, which was accepted. The anticipated excitement over a housing boom in Whitehorse collapsed.