The Yukon government won't allow an access road across sacred burial grounds, says a decision released Friday.

Carmacks-area resident Jerry Kruse has been pursuing the construction of a new church for the Carmacks Christian Fellowship on a lot south of the centre of the village, off the North Klondike Highway.

The application to upgrade a rough 150-metre access road sparked controversy in the community when it was argued the route location would pass over historical grave sites which could be unearthed during construction.

The very same disturbance happened back in the early 1970s during upgrades to the Klondike Highway near the same location, it was pointed out during the review by the Mayo district office of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB).

The district office recommended to the Yukon government lands branch that the access road not be allowed. The lands branch issued its decision Friday to accept the recommendation, and not allow the road.

Along with the decision comes the formal rejection of the application for a land use permit to upgrade an existing rough road, government spokesman Jesse Devost explained this morning.

Devost said the Yukon government is in discussions with the community and local first nation to find an alternate site for the church.

Kruse, who submitted the permit application, could not be reached this morning for comment.

Citizens of the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation have asked the Yukon government and the Carmacks municipality to find some way of establishing permanent protection of the area.

"We as the future generation are very concerned that all levels of government have failed in protecting our constitutional rights and knowingly disregard our land claim and sacred burial grounds," a group of first nation citizens wrote in their submission to the YESAB.

Carmacks Mayor Elaine Wyatt said the government has identified an alternate site for consideration, though at this point there has not been sufficient discussion about the proposal to say one way or the other if it's acceptable.

Wyatt did point out that if the lease is withdrawn, council would be prepared to rezone it back to park land for future protection from development.

In submissions to the YESAB, it was pointed out the application for the land lease was received in 2000, and was subsequently approved by the Land Application Review Committee.

It was also noted the Yukon government did a site investigation to check for archeological significance, but found no evidence of a former burial ground.

The first nation and the group of citizens, however, were emphatic the government was well aware back then that traditional knowledge identified the site as sacred burial grounds.

The land lease was issued on the grounds that the municipality agree to rezone the parcel from parkland to community development. The municipal council agreed to change zoning in 2006, during the heat of the controversy.

Newspaper articles from October 1974 documenting the unearthing of nine graves during highway construction work in the immediate area were also brought to the attention of the YESAB district office.

The recommendation by the district office pointed out there were no wildlife, habitat or other environmental issues with the application which could not be addressed.

But when it came to heritage resources, the board ruled differently.

"Effects to site-specific locations are often mitigated through the application of appropriate setbacks," reads the recommendation.

"The specific locations of all burial sites in the project area is not known or documented; however, the assessor is satisfied that they are present in the project area.

"A mitigation cannot be identified that will safely minimize the potential effects that may arise from the operation of the proposed project."