Going to the highest bidder and only the highest bidder: waterfront property.

Just four months ago, city council approved the policy on how the remaining 14-lot property in the former Motorways trucking yard downtown will be sold.

Now, council is being asked by administration to change it so the land would simply be sold to whoever pays the highest price instead of requiring prospective buyers to bring forward their plans for the land first.

"To me, that's being rear-end forward," Coun. Doug Graham said Monday night after council was presented with the proposed change during its standing committee meeting.

Under the current policy, city administration would review each plan by developers, then recommend certain ones to council for approval.

The proposed change would see the highest bidder get the land, then go through the regular development process when the city reviews development plans.

"This approach is being recommended because there is already a process to review both the proposed uses and specific design of development under the zoning bylaw," it's noted in an administrative report to council.

It also notes that not going ahead with the proposed policy or taking more time to analyze it would delay the sale of properties on the Motorways site.

The Mixed Use Waterfront/Motorways zone also requires development proposals to come forward for a conditional use application before proceeding.

Graham argued the new proposal hadn't been thought through and takes away the city's ability to guide what becomes of the site.

"It changes the whole process we had agreed on," he told last night's meeting.

There's nothing to prevent anyone from buying multiple lots to develop the site, council members were told by city planner Zoe Walker when she was questioned by Coun. Jeanine Myhre.

"We could end up with one company buying all of the lots and putting another Wal-Mart in there, and there's squat you can do about it," Graham said

"Whereas if we had the proposals in advance, we would be able to say, 'We don't want another Wal-Mart.'"

While Walker noted that current regulations and bylaws would not allow for a Wal-Mart store on the Motorways site, Graham stated he was simply putting forward an extreme example of situations which could occur.

Mayor Bev Buckway, meanwhile, argued developers would not be tied to the plans they propose to council when making their bid on land under the current policy.

They would be required to meet zoning regulations and development permit conditions anyway, she said.

With some of the most valuable land in the city, Graham continued to argue, it would be beneficial for council to see what each proposal is and have it go through a public process before the land is turned over to be developed.

There's no doubt the city should get as high a price as it can for the property, but it also needs to ask the question of whether the development proposed will be appropriate, he said.

It's unknown how much the city will make from the sale of the Motorways property, but it will go toward developing Takhini North, which Graham described in an interview this morning as a "losing proposition".

The plan calls for new residential development and upgrades to the existing subdivision.

The cost for the work to Takhini North are expected to come out in the coming weeks.

Graham said he expects the city will have to pay millions of dollars on the project even outside of what it might recoup from the sale of new lots in the subdivision.

While council discussed the Motorways site last night, city manager Dennis Shewfelt said a broader discussion would happen today during a council and senior management meeting set to be held in-camera (private).

Along with considering the land disposition policy for the property, council members are set to vote on first reading of a bylaw that would authorize the city to enter sales agreements for each lot at its regular meeting next week.