Residents still looking to have their say on a new snowmobile bylaw have been granted another two weeks to get their comments in to the city.

Bylaw manager Dave Pruden said this morning his department has set a new deadline of May 19 for feedback after getting a couple of requests to move it past the original May 5 deadline.

"Some felt they needed more time,” Pruden explained.

The new deadline is about as late as the comment period can go without throwing the overall timeline for the bylaw to be in place out of whack.

City officials are planning on having the new regulations – which would replace the 1972 bylaw last amended in 1990 – in place by the next snowmobile season.

Officials would write it up over the summer before it goes through a legal review and to city council for consideration in the fall.

Work on the new bylaw began in January with the formation of a task force to look at the regulations.

Represented in the group were the Yukon Conservation Society, the Ta'an Kwachan Council, Kwanlin Dun First Nation, Listers Motor Sports, the Klondike Snowmobile Association, the RCMP, the Yukon government, community associations for Riverdale and Porter Creek and the bylaw department.

Last month, the task force released its 34-page report identifying, among other things, a need for signs showing what the trails can be used for, more education and better enforcement at the same time keeping in mind the economic impact snowmobiling has on the city.

The comment period on the report then opened with the May 5 deadline set.

Many have been using forms provided at the Canada Games Centre to provide their input, with just a few going to through the city's website (www.whitehorse.ca) and forms are continuing to come in.

"It's changing daily,” Pruden said of the number of people providing feedback. He estimated that he's gone through 60 to 70 so far, though more may have been turned in since.

Mandatory helmet use (which is already regulated under the territory's Motor Vehicles Act), having designated trails and protecting the environment top the list of concerns for many who have provided input so far, Pruden said.

After the bylaw is drafted and presented to council, there will be another chance for the public to review and comment on what's proposed.

It's expected the city will start a similar process to update its ATV bylaw that was adopted in 1990 after work on the snowmobile bylaw has wrapped up.