An empty lot in downtown Whitehorse stirred up serious debate in the legislature Wednesday as the Opposition said years of development delays there show the government can’t deliver on housing promises.

The piece of land at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Rogers Street has been slated for development since the Yukon Party was last in power.

But remediation efforts, rezoning and last spring’s landslides have kept it empty for years.

The current Liberal government is still trying to get housing there, hoping to sell the land so a developer can build up to 300 much-needed rental units on it.

The government says the landslides on the clay cliffs have caused delays. The lot sits near the base of those cliffs and a company is currently assessing it for safety before a request for proposal can be put out to find a private developer.

But the Yukon Party says it’s “disingenuous” to say the slides are the reason for the delay.

Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon spoke with reporters after caucus colleague Brad Cathers criticized Economic Development Minister Ranj Pillai about progress on the lot in question period Wednesday.

“The minister is standing up and saying that the delay is strictly because of the slides that occurred this summer, which is completely disingenuous, because they have blown every single timeline with regards to this lot well before the slides ever happened,” Dixon said.

Pillai took exception to Dixon’s comments, telling reporters his party is working hard to get the lot privately developed and can’t take responsibility for an act of nature.

He said Dixon’s comments to reporters and the Yukon Party’s line of questioning in the House were insulting.

“Was today about Fifth and Rogers? Or was today about personal attacks?” Pillai asked after question period.

“We want to see 300 units built there. But we’ve got to make sure it’s safe to build there.”

Dixon, in his conference with reporters, had accused Pillai of being unable to deliver on housing promises, citing Fifth and Rogers as a prime example.

There’s little question landslides have delayed the development process this year. But the story of the Fifth and Rogers lot goes back farther than the past spring.

The land was originally reviewed for development when the Yukon Party was in power.

Back in April 2015, then-Energy, Mines and Resources minister Scott Kent announced consultation with an architecture firm had provided “high-level concepts and ideas” for the lot.

Several uses for the land were suggested, including a seniors’ housing project by the Vimy Heritage Housing Project. Those failed to materialize before the Liberal party won a majority government in 2016. 

A year later, the Vimy Heritage Housing Project said the space wasn’t suitable for its needs.

Furthermore, assessments deemed the lot required environmental remediation work before residences could be built on it, and development was put on the backburner.

In 2019, then-Community Services minister John Streicker told the legislature that environmental reviews had shown developers could overcome environmental concerns if they factored in underground venting into their designs, and the lot could be back in the mix for development.

The land was rezoned for higher density in 2020, and a tender was put out to gauge interest from developers, contractors and builders who might want to buy and develop it. The government website says that tender was awarded, but nothing came of it.

Then, in 2021, the re-elected Liberal government committed to work with the private sector to develop the Fifth and Rogers lot, “ensuring the development increases the amount of available housing, including rentals.”

Pillai told reporters the government then engaged with local First Nations development corporations and consortiums for interest in developing the land, but didn’t receive any submissions that fully satisfied what the government wanted for housing there.

The goal, which Pillai said is in line with the City of Whitehorse’s Downtown South Plan, is to create high-density, mostly-affordable rentals to maximize the amount of housing that can be provided on the small lot.

A request for proposals (RFP) was then developed, he said, and was nearly ready to go when the landslides upended plans at the end of the legislature’s spring session.

The RFP is now ready, but geotechnical assessments of the land are now underway, and Pillai said the RFP will have to wait until the lot is reviewed for safety.

He said he hopes that will be done by year’s end, and the RFP will be put out to the private sector early next year.

Dixon told reporters the RFP should be issued now, so a developer is in place when the geotechnic assessment wraps up and construction can begin. But Pillai doesn’t think that’s prudent.

“We’re trying to ensure that when this piece of land is put in the hands of the private sector,” he told reporters, “that they have a very clear understanding of what site preparation has to be done and any mitigation efforts that have to be put in place before the development occurs.”

Pillai said the Yukon Party has failed to take responsibility for its own delays on moving development forward on the Fifth and Rogers lot. 

NDP Leader Kate White agreed with Dixon that delays at Fifth and Rogers go back further than the landslides, but felt frustrations between the parties missed the point.

“I would remind both political parties right now that the folks who are the most frustrated are the people who are waiting for homes, who can’t afford the homes that they’re in,” she told reporters.

She emphasized the need for rent control to continue next year as the addition of housing stock to the market is delayed — though White has said she would ideally like rent control to become permanent.

Pillai said Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn had been clear this week that the government will not renew rent control next year, but acknowledged the need for more rental stock.

“I think for anybody… trying to access the housing market, we really need more rental stock,” he said. “It’s about ensuring that we can densify areas downtown.”

He added that more housing downtown would add vibrancy to the core of the city and help support businesses and culture in the area.

Pillai said criticisms of government development delays had been unfair from the Yukon Party.

 He also said this lot, along with the Marwell grader station lot and the Tank Farm area – other Whitehorse lands with long-term plans for development – are not included in the Yukon Liberals’ 2021 commitment to release 1,000 lots for development over five years.

Yukon Party MLAs had asked Highways and Public Works Minister Nils Clarke about these lands in relation to progress on that 1,000-lot commitment last week in question period. Clarke spoke with media afterward, but did not make this distinction.

Pillai also said the Yukon Party has been misleading, and ignored decorum when attacking the government in the legislature – including comments that Pillai had provided incorrect information about a housing project in question period last month.

In question period Tuesday, Dixon said the Yukon Housing Corp. would assume the financial burden of a social housing project at the former Coast High Country Inn should the NGO leading that project fail to complete or operate it.

Pillai had said last month the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corp. would assume responsibility for the property in that case.

On Wednesday, he told media he had documents he would table this afternoon to verify that. He said the Yukon Party had made those claims without doing its due diligence first.