Expensive lots in the new Grizzly Valley subdivision was a topic of debate during Thursday's question period in the legislature.

The lots — which range in price from $125,000 to $218,000 — were up for grabs earlier this week in a Yukon government land lottery.

The priciest lot is 7.96 hectares in size and the cheapest is 3.17 hectares. The subdivision is located on the west side of the Klondike Highway between the sod farm and the Deep Creek Road.

NDP Leader Liz Hanson said expensive lots like these are out of reach to most working and middle-class Yukoners.

This is evidenced by the fact that that not all of the lots were sold, she continued.

"This will not solve the territory's housing crises.”

Twenty one of the 30 lots are currently spoken for, but lottery participants still have until Dec. 20 to make their final decision. It's not uncommon for family and friends to apply for several lots and then choose just one.

Matt King, a spokesperson for the Department of Community Services, explained to the Star that it cost the government just under $5 million to build the roads (with two entrances) and install the electrical lines. A chunk of that money went into installing two multi-plate animal culverts, or wildlife corridors under the road.

King said the cost of each lot is determined by the development cot of the subdivision.

The two wildlife crossings were installed in the subdivision in response to recommendations from the wildlife studies conducted before development started in the area, Mac Hislop, a communications analyst for Community Services wrote in an email to the Star today.

The culverts are big enough for a large moose to travel through.

The total cost of the two culverts was approximately $1 million, Hislop wrote.

That's just over 22 per cent of the total development cost for the subdivision.

Hanson, in her question in the legislature Thursday, asked why the government chose to proceed with the Grizzly Valley development instead of pursuing options that would be affordable to working and middle-class Yukoners.

The lot development started a number of years ago, replied Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Brad Cathers.

"This project has been underway for quite some time, dating back, in fact, previous to the last territorial election (in 2006),” he said.

Cathers said the money that had been invested in this project made it "the appropriate thing” to make the lots available.

"At this point, not all of them have been spoken for, but as our staff at the lands branch noted, once the snow is off the ground, there is a great likelihood that additional Yukoners will be interested once they can walk around and see the ground for themselves.”

Cathers said some Yukoners want small serviced lots in town while some prefer land that is more rural and larger in nature.

”That is what these lots were originally intended to serve.”

Hanson told the Star this morning she didn't see why the previous government decided to develop "luxury lots” when it could see commodity prices start to rise and the boom coming.

She said the government is "blindly” focusing on one sector of the economy and ignoring the housing needs of all Yukoners.

Mike Racz, the president of the Yukon Real Estate Association, said today he had no comment on Tuesday's land lottery.

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