There is no official private development policy for land in Whitehorse, leading to confusion among developers and a lack of transparency in the land application process.

That's the opinion of prospective Porter Creek greenbelt developer Daryl Novakowski, who described the current environment for private developers in Whitehorse as bleak.

'They don't have a standard way of dealing with (private development) applications ... it's a problem,' Novakowski said in an interview this morning.

He said he has been trying to work his way through the levels of government to acquire land in the Holly Street greenbelt but has achieved little except for spending more than $10,000.

Novakowski said if he knew the government and the city were not interested in private land development 11 months ago, he never would have continued trying to move his application through the two levels of government.

'It's difficult to know what action to take as a developer because there is no policy,' he said.

Novakowski presented his case before city council earlier this year. He asked it to support his plans to develop 28 residential lots in an area zoned greenbelt behind Porter Creek Secondary School, east of Holly Street, by amending the Official Community Plan (OCP).

Council told Novakowski he could not apply for an application to amend the OCP because he's not the land owner.

Novakowski said this morning he is not going to give up on the issue and has had his legal team make an application to the Yukon government to purchase the land.

'There has been private land development in the Yukon before ... the city needs to think of the future; we need development,' he said.

According to a government source who preferred not to be named, the last major private residential development in Whitehorse was the Pineridge subdivision.

The development, the source said, occurred after the YTG transferred public lands to the City of Whitehorse and the city, in turn, entered into a development agreement with the developer.

'The private developer submitted an application to the Yukon government and requested a land transfer.

'The Yukon government requested input from the city at the time. The city requested that the YTG transfer the land at market value. The city then assumed responsibility for the land and entered into a development agreement with the developer.

'The land did not go out to tender, the city entered into a development agreement with the developer,' the source said.

Bryony McIntyre, the Department of Energy Mines and Resources (EMR) manager of land client services, said last week the government accepts spot applications for commercial, industrial, quarry and property enlargements, but not for residential land applications within municipal areas.

'We would not take a residential application within municipal boundaries,' she said.

McIntyre said because EMR is the land owner, people seeking to engage in private development often come to her department first when they were looking to process their private development applications.

'We often get people coming to us first, because they look at who the land owner is.

'The way we look at it, is yes, we are the land owners but we are not the developers nor are we in charge of land use decisions,' she said.

'We would recommend at that point that they go and talk to the City of Whitehorse and their planning department. There is also the Department of Community Services.'

In an interview Thursday, Eric Magnuson, the assistant deputy minister of the Department of Community Services, said there is no process in place to deal with private development in the Yukon which makes it difficult for government officials to deal effectively with applications.

'There's no distinct or established process for private development in the City of Whitehorse,' he said.

Magnuson said because there is no policy, each application is dealt with on a case-by-case basis. However, many administrators are still uncertain how to respond to the issue of private development.

'Many administrators aren't really sure how to deal with it, so they go looking for political direction.

'There is no agreement between the two levels of government (municipal and territorial) so consensus is difficult to achieve.'

Magnuson said while there has been very little interest in private development in the Yukon over the past two decades, that situation has changed with the territory's increasingly robust economy. The city and YTG are currently discussing a land development protocol which he expects will deal with the issue.

'The simplest way to achieve transparency is to design a process that people are consulted in and there's an acceptance of the process. We don't have that process right now.

'The land development protocol being discussed between the city and the YTG could deal with that issue,' he said.

City planning manager Lesley Cabott said she too believed government and city officials were going to address the issue of private land development in their land development protocol discussions.

In the current environment, all major residential development in the territory is undertaken by the Yukon government with input from municipal governments when the development takes place within urban areas.

YTG-planned land development procedures state: 'The Department of Community Services, community development branch, engineering, (and) development and operations carries out all Government of Yukon planned land-development projects in cooperation with local municipalities, local advisory councils and hamlets. Existing community and local plans are also taken into account.'

There are several stages in the development process, according to the procedures, which include: a lot inventory and demand analysis; a feasibility and planning stage; a detailed engineering design stage; a construction stage; (and) a marketing and lottery stage.

'The larger urban centres with OCPs direct the location and types of land development projects undertaken in their respective communities.

'Lot development is done on a cost-recovery basis.'