Attention, tourists: looking for directions to the MacBride Museum, shops at the Horwood's Mall and the new wharf?

Just head down First Avenue – er, Front Street.

In a 3-2 vote Monday evening, city council approved third reading, thus adopting, the bylaw to change the name of First Avenue to Front Street.

Councillors Dave Stockdale and Kirk Cameron voted against the move.

Stockdale stated he did not see a "groundswell” of community support for the change. Cameron argued the decision should have been postponed for another month.

"This hasn't gelled enough,” he told his fellow council members after they voted down his motion to put off the final decision.

A public input session on the proposed renaming was held last week.

Two residents came forward with the suggestion that First Avenue be renamed Waterfront Way or Avenue rather than Front Street.

The Waterfront name would provide more of a destination, it was argued.

Waterfront Way could be used to reflect the water of the Yukon River, council was told – Front for the historical name of Front Street and Way for the White Pass and Yukon Route railway, which previously ran on the tracks parallel to the road.

On Monday evening, resident Julie Gilbert added her voice to the mix, arguing the change would be confusing. The city's grid pattern, with number avenues in one direction, makes it easy to get around downtown, and turning First Avenue into Front Street is "disconcerting,” Gilbert said.

"This is Whitehorse, not Dawson City,” she said. (Dawson has long had a Front Street.)

City officials in Whitehorse had proposed the change to Front Street to reflect the artery's common historical name going back to Whitehorse's early days.

Celebration events for the revitalization of the downtown waterfront are set for later this summer.

MacBride Museum officials have spoken in favour of the change to reflect the history of the site.

A survey found six property owners and three tenants favour the change while three tenants are opposed.

Another property owner and a local stakeholder took a neutral stance on the issue.

Dawson City Mayor Wayne Potoroka also offered his two cents on the matter.

He argued that moving to Front Street would help reflect the common history of communities throughout the Yukon, going back to a time when towns were built around the water which essentially served as the highway system. Mayo also has a Front Street next to the river.

At Monday's meeting, planning manager Pat Ross said the city could not use a name with waterfront in the title because there's already the Waterfront Place roadway off Quartz Road.

Under the city's policy for addressing, "names shall not be similar sounding or phonetically similar to the name of any street within the city and, if possible, within the 911 area.”

That's in order to prevent any confusion when emergency services are called to a scene.

As it was pointed out, police, ambulance and fire personnel may know the difference between similar-sounding roads.

However, if someone calls in and gives the wrong roadway title, such as place instead of avenue, emergency services

respondents could easily end up at the wrong address.

The fire and bylaw departments, as well as the RCMP, all provided written input to the city not supporting the name change to a Waterfront title, Ross said.

"Adding another similar-sounding street will only cause confusion, particularly because they are not physically

connected,” Ross stated in his report to council.

He also pointed out that the city had not been proposing going ahead with any name change to the road except to change it to Front Street.

"The original rationale for bringing forward this public proposal was to examine the possibility of restoring the historical name of Front Street,” he said.

"Without additional public consultation, it is not advisable to consider alternate names within this renaming process.”

Cameron; however, disagreed. With the city going out and asking for public comment, he argued, surely it was clear other suggestions may come forward.

"I'd like to take a step back from this,” he said.

Mayor Dan Curtis, who attended the meeting by conference call, was quick to speak out against postponing the vote.

Council, he said, is elected to make decisions, and it was clear council was only considering Front Street as a name change to the street.

Council can't keep deferring everything that comes up, Curtis said.

"As a celebration of our proud Whitehorse history, we are pleased to announce today the official renaming of First Avenue to Front Street,” the mayor added in a statement.

"This area was historically significant as the place of arrival into the city by rail and river transportation, as there was no road into Whitehorse when it was first settled.”

While Cameron argued the matter is not one of urgency and therefore could be deferred, the rest of council opted to move forward with it, voting against Cameron's motion to defer a decision.

Before voting in favour of Front Street, Coun. John Streicker noted the name acknowledges its place next to the river.

While other suggestions were very good, he said, council's decision also acknowledges the area's,historic name.

Pointing out that there doesn't seem to be any sort of appetite from the community for the change, Stockdale argued it should just be left alone as First Avenue, as it's been for decades.

"There should always be a fourth option; do nothing,” he said.

With the 3-2 vote to change the name to Front Street, city staff will now begin ordering new street signs.

The manufacturing and installation of the seven new signs are expected to cost about $1,500.

Councillors Mike Gladish and Jocelyn Curteanu were absent from Monday's meeting.