Council's decision next week on a proposed lease agreement will be the next step in KBL Environmental Ltd. setting up shop in the territory.

The Yellowknife-based business deals with hazardous waste.

Earlier this month, it received approval from the Yukon government to set up shop at the Whitehorse landfill. The green light came after the Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) recommended it be approved with conditions.

Presented to council Monday night, the five-year lease agreement (which includes a five-year renewal provision) would see KBL charged $10,000 each year.

It would have to have $5 million worth of public liability insurance, $2 million in vehicle insurance and $1 million in environmental impairment insurance.

It would have to fence the one-hectare parcel it would use. As well, an environmental site assessment would have to be done before it starts operating and whenever it ceases activities.

The company is planning to build a 3,000-square-foot building that would house the waste as well as a 2,400-square-foot Quonset hut and installing a trailer for its operations at the site.

The construction of the facility is expected to cost approximately $750,000, Jeff Dirks, the company's development manager, told council in a presentation Monday night.

Any improvements made to the land by KBL and not removed within six months of the lease expiring could be inherited by the city with written notice provided.

Either side would have the option to terminate the lease by providing a minimum of one year's notice.

Dirks said the facility is expected to create about 20 jobs over a two-year period.

While city staff are recommending council begin the bylaw process for the lease, it is not coming without other waste operators arguing the city is giving the company preferential treatment.

As Pat Ross, the city's land development supervisor, explained though, the process would have been the same for anyone who came knocking at the city's door.

"The same consideration would be provided to any other company offering compatible services at the city's waste management site,” it's stated in a report to council.

"The KBL leasing agreement does not provide any other contractual obligation by the city for services that KBL provides.”

Given the concerns though, Ross noted staff are proposing to come up with a framework around applications from the private sector to use city land.

"This framework would go beyond land leasing agreements, but would also extend to proposals requesting usage of city facilities for private ‘for profit purposes',” states a report to council.

Dirks noted in his own presentation it was the rise in mining activity that made the company interested in coming to the Yukon.

After doing research, officials found there is a gap in the market it could fill by setting up shop in Whitehorse.

KBL then began moving through the regulatory process to begin operating here.

Under the decision document coming from the YESAB recommendations, KBL must do groundwater monitoring twice a year and provide those results to Environment Yukon.

It must also let anyone affected know about the plans and timing of work in order to reduce any conflicts over land use and other negative impacts.

Commercial companies in the territory are responsible for managing their own special waste, while the Yukon government tenders out the work for collecting household hazardous waste.

Along with handling hazardous waste, KBL also offers 24-hour spill response. It has already cleaned up more than 100,000 litres of hazardous fluid spilled in the Northwest Territories.

It was in the Northwest Territories where the company got started, beginning operations in 2010, two years after it began the work to open shop.

It largely started with hazardous waste coming out of the diamond mines in the N.W.T., and now also operates in western Nunavut.

A Whitehorse location would give it a presence in all three territories.

"The facility was the first of its kind in northern Canada,” Dirks said.

In a previous interview, he told the Star KBL would like to be operating in the city by sometime next year.

Council will vote on whether to move the lease forward next week.