After delays and pushed timelines, lots for the city's newest government-built country residential subdivision will be on the market next summer.

Eric Magnuson is the assistant deputy minister of the Department of Community Services.

In an interview Tuesday, he said unavoidable delays to the Whitehorse Copper subdivision construction were experienced over the last building season. They led to the government asking for an extended timeline from Whitehorse's zoning authority, city council.

'We tried our best, but weather conditions and construction realities caused the time frame to be moved forward,' Magnuson said.

The length of the extension request for subdivision approval to August 2007, Magnuson said, is an effort to give the government more time than it needed.

'We asked for a time frame which is much longer than we need, just to be on the safe side,' he said. 'It was a standard type of request.'

Earlier this year, Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang announced the first of the Whitehorse Copper lots would be available in the fall of this year.

According to the Department of Community Services, the lots were scheduled to be released in November.

The new timeline for the release of the first phase of Whitehorse Copper, Magnuson said, is now the summer of 2007.

'All things being equal, and if we get a normal spring and construction season, people could take possession as early as June or July.'

He said lots will likely sell for between $80,000 and $100,000.

'There may be some that are possibly over $100,000,' Magnuson said.

He said the advanced land lottery could happen as early as May.

According to the Department of Community Services, the first phase of Whitehorse Copper will include the placing of 52 lots on the market.

The 25 service industrial lots that are also part of the subdivision, according to department spokesperson Doug Caldwell, will likely go in phase one.

The remaining 58 lots, according to the department, are scheduled for release in October 2007.

According to department information, there are 110 residential lots scheduled for Whitehorse Copper, ranging in size from one hectare to 1.8 hectares.

The request for a subdivision extension to the city by the government places the number of residential lots at 111.

The subdivision's lots will include power and telecommunications hookups as far as the road, but lot purchasers will be responsible for extending those services onto the property.

'Some lots may include domestic water wells, the cost of which will be included in the lot sale price,' the department's information states.

Mike Racz, the president of the Yukon Real Estate Association, said Wednesday he believes the cost of the lots will price many would-be home buyers out of the market.

Racz said he would like to see a better land disposition process in the city to bring lots and homes onto the market in a more timely fashion to avoid a repeat of the Whitehorse Copper situation.

Whitehorse Copper took approximately a decade to plan, with numerous rounds of public consultations and various delays.

Racz said he would like to see something like the Porter Creek bench charrette process used to try to bring lots onto the market in a more timely fashion.

'I think the charrette process should be used in any new development process,' he said.

Having public consultation at the beginning of the development process may make developments more acceptable to the public, he added.