City council voted at its meeting Monday to begin the process of procuring planning services for the Tank Farm Master Plan project.

A master plan is required to ensure the Tank Farm and the surrounding area are developed logically and in a co-ordinated manner, says the administrative report prepared for council.

The Tank Farm is named that because it used to serve as a storage area for fuel shipped from Skagway through a pipeline. The site stopped serving as a storage facility many years ago and has been remediated.

A master plan will provide high-level residential neighbourhood planning for the Tank Farm site and the surrounding properties, says the administrative report to council.

It will provide direction for future detailed engineering and land use use planning work, such as zoning, subdivision and development permits, says an administrative report to council.

Sidhu Trucking owns the Tank Farm.

Nine parties own the properties around the periphery of Sidhu’s property. They include the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, the Ta’an Kwach’an Council, the Yukon and federal governments and the City of Whitehorse.

Mike Gau, the city’s director of development services, explained in an interview Tuesday afternoon the master plan is aimed at coming up with a development proposal for all of the properties, hence the name master plan.

Sidhu Trucking has a residential plan of its own for its property, and it’s not the master plan’s intent to encroach on that work, said Gau.

He said the intent is to have the master plan wrapped up by June 2023.

“We are trying to get this in a position for development as soon as possible,” he said.

At Monday’s meeting, Coun. Kirk Cameron described the Tank Farm area as a gem of an opportunity for development.

Mayor Laura Cabott said getting down to the development of the Tank Farm area is a big step.

It will provide a significant number of residential units that are needed in Whitehorse, she said.

Cabott also applauded the remediation work on the Tank Farm site that was completed several years ago by a previous owner to Sidhu Trucking.

It’s important, she said, for the city to hire the right consultant, one who knows the area.

Coun. Dan Boyd told his colleagues on council it will be an expensive planning exercise.

He asked administration if the city would be in a position to recover some of its costs.

But acting city manager Jeff O’Farrell said the city would not recover its cost, as overseeing the project falls under civic responsibility, that overseeing the planning work is the cost of doing business.

There will be public engagement in the process, council was assured by administration.

Council was also told that any gravel resources that are not needed to level and prepare the area for development will be available for use in other parts of the city.

Coun. Ted Laking said the Tank Farm development will provide much needed relief to the city’s housing crisis, and it’s needed now.

The city, he said, isn’t keeping up with the housing demand, which is driving the cost of housing significantly upward.

Laking said the cost of an average single-detached home in Whitehorse was $423,000 in 2017. Today, it’s up to $656,800, he said.

“That is an increase of $233,500 on the cost of an average home in just four years, which is completely unsustainable,” he said.

He described the increase as staggering and unaffordable.

“And we need to get planning for more residential lots now,” Laking said.