There was clear support Tuesday evening for city council to approve a conditional use application that would allow for a new disc golf course off the Alaska Highway near the Kopper King complex.

Two speakers turned up at a public input session to express support for the Whitehorse Disc Golf Association’s conditional use application to use the 6.3 hectares of vacant Commissioner’s land for an 18-hole course.

As well, the city received another two written submissions in support of the application.

The land is currently zoned as Future Planning and Environmental Protection, requiring council to approve the conditional use application before it can go ahead.

The territory has already approved a licence of occupation for the disc golf association.

While the group is hoping to use the site, it’s not looking to restrict the access of others who use the area as well.

As association president Ryan Norquay told council, the sport aligns with a number of the goals set out in city policies and plans promoting active living and sustainable activities.

It also provides a free recreational activity for residents (though the association accepts donations), Norquay added.

It’s only been four years since he started playing, he noted.

“It has completely consumed my life,” Norquay said, adding his desire to share it with the rest of the community.

The growing association has plans to continue its offerings to area schools, the addition of a ladies-only night to its league schedule, skills and coaching events and summer camps for the coming months.

Also speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting was Jesse Devost, an association co-creator who’s been playing for more than two decades.

When he moved to Whitehorse in 1998 from Victoria, Devost said, he soon learned disc golf courses were lacking in the territory’s capital.

That was until he stumbled across an old course in the Takhini neighbourhood. He soon convinced his friends to come out with him, and before long, they were hooked as well.

“There was no going back,” he said.

The group eventually received a grant to fix up the course. When the city expanded lots in the Takhini neighbourhood, the association put in a new course at the McIntyre ski trails.

By 2007, there were about 75 regular players perfecting their disc throws on the course. That has since doubled or even tripled, Devost said.

“Participation has continued upwards,” he stressed. The association is community-minded, hosting a number of events and activities, he added.

Addressing the spate of vandalism to disc golf equipment over the last few months, Devost noted that more people out on the course could result in less vandalism.

As disc golfer Noel Sinclair stated in a presentation to council earlier this month, the equipment planned for the new course will be more difficult to steal and vandalize.

Devost extended an invitation to anyone who has spoken out against the plans to give the sport a try.

A staff report on the public input session will come forward to council at next week’s meeting. Council will then vote on the application at its April 11 meeting.

Coun. Rob Fendrick was absent from Tuesday night’s meeting.