Tank Farm’s future will receive a second hearing
City council has decided to hold a second public hearing into the proposal to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) to allow for industrial-commercial lots in the Tank Farm area.
By Chuck Tobin on July 14, 2020
City council has decided to hold a second public hearing into the proposal to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) to allow for industrial-commercial lots in the Tank Farm area.
The OCP identifies the 56-hectare Tank Farm located between the Valleyview and Hillcrest subdivisions as future residential.
Sidhu Trucking, owner of the land, wants to provide 13 light industrial-commercial lots in the southeast corner of the Tank Farm adjacent to
the industrial lots along Wasson Place, which connects with Burns Road.
The proposal has received stiff opposition from residents of Hillcrest and Valleyview, who argue the area should remain designated as future
residential.
City administration, on the other hand, is recommending acceptance by council of Sidhu Trucking’s proposal as administration believes that
7.3-hectare section of the Tank Farm is best suited for industrial-commercial lots.
“From a planning perspective, the proposed OCP amendment is sound and is the best land use designation for the subject area,” says the
administrative report presented to council at its meeting Monday.
“However, any future zoning amendment or development agreement created through the subdivision process should include regulations to
mitigate concerns raised by the public.”
Council agreed Monday with the administrative recommendation to hold a second public hearing into the proposal because of changes that
have been made to the project and new information coming forward since the first public hearing in late April.
Mike Gau, the city’s director of development services, told council Monday the hearing would be held on Aug. 10, after council’s three-week summer break next month.
Given the process involved, including a Yukon government review of the change to the OCP, third and final reading of the bylaw would not
come to council until Nov. 9.
There is a lot of new information for council and the public to consider, he said.
The Tank Farm was established in the early 1940s. It served as a storage facility for fuel being transported to Whitehorse by pipeline from the port of Skagway.
Remediation of the area began in the 1990s.
Sidhu Trucking has conducted further remediation since taking over the property in 2011, to the point the Tank Farm is now suitable for
residential development, for the most part.
The company has not yet put forward any plans for subdivision development.
Comments (4)
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Reality Check on Jul 27, 2020 at 4:02 pm
Sidhu wants to extract gravel from the site of the proposed "development" to level the sites to grade. There is enough gravel there for about 20 years of gravel extraction. That is why residents are opposed. The City should call the project what it is - a gravel quarry, and then have a debate on the merits of having a a quarry within 200 meters of existing housing. This is another pig in a poke brought to you by COW, YG and the Yukon's gravel hauling/road building mafia.
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Put my house by that pile of wrecked snowmobiles! on Jul 15, 2020 at 7:04 pm
You want a house there? I can imagine the bylaw complaints. They are fixing snowmobiles and running them up and I can't sleep! or snow removal from commercial parking lots at night. Uh, could you not do that, i'm sleeping.
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shakes head* on Jul 15, 2020 at 6:59 pm
The City wants to delay this as long as they can. They need to sell Whistle Bend first. Who in their right mind is going to buy a house beside a shipping company and an airport? There is a huge benefit to citizens of Whitehorse if this development gets started. I for one would like to buy a large residential lot with space to park my stuff in city limits and not be stuck right beside my neighbour. But, as long as these people keep fighting it the City can make WhistleBend style the norm.
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One One-Lesser-Voice on Jul 14, 2020 at 3:51 pm
It seems city administration often does not support residents concerns.
I hope council sides with residents. Maybe they can put larger lots in there that are attractive to residents. These residential properties can be restored by the residents over time via the use of native wildflowers, flowers etc.