The Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce is "quite disappointed” the Whitehorse wharf project being done by the Yukon government won't be finished until 2011 now.

"There were commitments made,” chamber president Rick Karp said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.

He pointed to the most recent deadline of this year to finish the waterfront project with the wharf.

Last August, the Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board recommended the government's application to build the 744.1-square-metre wharf go ahead.

The condition was that mitigative measures are taken, including the timing of any construction in the water being between April and June, among other measures.

The project approved also includes plans for a 630.67-metre-long floating dock. A ramp to a new trail and the trolley line would extend from near the flagpole closer to the side of the wharf at Main Street.

The wharf project has been estimated at $1.9 million.

Next to the ramp, closer to Steele Street, would be an amphitheatre that would sit between the wharf and trail.

There would also be a viewing dock from the new trail between the trolley line and First Avenue and other areas.

But all of that isn't going to happen this year as it had been planned to, Marc Perrault, the director of infrastructure development, said in an interview earlier this week.

"It's going to be done next year for sure,” he said as he explained the more detailed engineering work that was being done, since last year took longer than expected.

Coupled with the timing restrictions for when construction can be done in the water between April and June, that's left officials looking to next year to get it done.

"We're prioritizing,” he said, stating the only change in the project is the timing.

That means this year, the detailed design is being finished, with hardscaping being done between The Old Fire Hall and the White Pass depot, landscaping between the White Pass building and past Steele Street, with paths leading to the wharf, and the construction that's now underway for the new 32-stall parking lot just past Wood Street to beyond Jarvis Street.

A look-out and old sidewalk will also be removed, with rocks and material to deal with erosion control set to be stored in the area.

"That's a lot of prep work. This will allow us to start first thing next spring,” he said, after stressing the greatness of the work being done on the waterfront – including the construction of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation's cultural centre as well as the Yukon government's work.

"This year's really positive,” Perrault said.

For the chamber though, waiting another year to see the government's Whitehorse waterfront project complete is not positive.

"This project should proceed,” Karp said as he pointed out the plans have been in the works for years, with his own records of the project going back to 2005.

"We're really losing a couple of years,” he argued.

The first deadline to have the wharf project finished was 2009. Last year, officials were informed that date had been bumped up to this summer.

What is needed is for the wharf to be finished to draw people to the downtown core, not the $110,000 tower being added onto The Old Fire Hall, he said.

The decorative steeple is another Yukon government project, with funding coming from the Canadian Strategic Infrastructure Fund last year specifically for it.

A tower won't draw the crowds a completed waterfront wharf will, Karp argued.

"There has to be critical mass on the waterfront,” he said.

That's part of the reason the chamber partnered with the government and Yukon Arts Centre to open up The Old Fire Hall for events, which has drawn many to the happenings there.

"It's proved what it can do,” Karp said.

Now more has to be done to draw people down to the waterfront, and that means getting the wharf project complete, Karp said.