It was supposed to be an eco-friendly, sustainable community.

Instead, it seems Whistle Bend will be just like any other neighbourhood in Whitehorse, at least to many who spoke out at a public meeting on the proposed subdivision held Thursday evening.

"There's nothing sustainable from what we're hearing tonight,” one of 30 or so people argued to officials with the city and the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB).

The first two phases of the subdivision, to see 295 new lots constructed in the lower bench of Porter Creek, is now being considered by the YESAB after the city approved the zoning and subdivision of the land last year.

It wasn't those first two phases of the project that dominated the conversation last night though. Instead, city planners came under fire for a plan in the later phases that would see a road connecting the new subdivision with the Alaska Highway crossing at McIntyre Creek.

The public arguments last came after Karen Baltgailis, the executive director of the Yukon Conservation Society, publicly called on the assessment to be halted until there could be consultation on the proposed road extension from Pine Street to the highway.

She argued the new crossing should have been included in the first two phases of Whistle Bend, rather than as a piece of background information included in the YESAB submission.

"Is the city trying to sneak the connector road in by putting the environmental assessment of it off until future phases of Whistle Bend?” Baltgailis asked in a statement this week.

"The City of Whitehorse Whistle Bend Transportation Network Impact Study says that a road link to the Alaska Highway is needed at a Whistle Bend population of 1,000 people, which is the target of phase one and two, so why hasn't the city included it in the current assessment?

"Once phases one and two are built, is the city going to come back to YESAB and say they've spent so much money on phases one and two and now they're built, so a connector road must be built?”

Those sentiments were expressed by many at last night's meeting. They argued the initial pieces of the subdivision will create the need for the roadway.

"Once you do phases one and two, you will have demand,” said one person, who went on to add that while there's been a great deal of consultation on the Whistle Bend subdivision, little has been said about the crossing at McIntyre Creek or the Pine Street extension.

Too often, Baltgailis said in an interview, a project will come before the YESAB in phases. By the time it gets to the later stages, the proponent will tell the YESAB there has already been so much spent on the previous phases that now the need is there to go ahead with the later ones.

"Things happen quicker than you expect,” she said, arguing the YESAB rarely recommends against something being done piecemeal because it's difficult to see the full impact that way.

"The assessment report submitted to YESAB states that the entire McIntyre Creek corridor is considered a significant wildlife area and it is environmentally sensitive,” said Friends of McIntyre Creek president Dorothy Bradley. "A road and bridge are entirely incompatible with this designation.”

While both Montainview Drive and Range Road cross McIntyre Creek, Baltgailis said the proposed crossing that would link to Pine Street would be in the middle of a large area of wildlife habitat and through a site that's heavily used by people for recreational activities.

It was at a Dec. 17 council and senior management meeting about the city's review of the Official Community Plan that Baltgailis said she heard planning manager Mike Gau say the crossing would be a necessary part of Whistle Bend.

At last night's meeting though, Gau argued it will be a decision left up to council. The need for the road is based on current transportation trends and comes purely from a technical sense without yet looking at the environmental and other impacts, he added.

If people start taking transit, for example, that could take pressure off roads like Mountainview Drive, possibly alleviating the need for the connector.

"Council can make that decision,” he said.

Baltgailis countered his argument by asking that he write a letter to the YESAB that would then be copied to council stating at the December meeting he misspoke himself about the road being an integral part of Whistle Bend.

She also argued that rather than spending millions on new roads, the city would be better off to spend that money on creating a more effective transit system.

As the city continued to defend what it's put before the YESAB, stating there would be public consultation and more research into the possibility of the route if the city opted to pursue it, residents at the meeting continued to slam the city, saying the entire Whistle Bend project should be assessed all at once.

YESAB assessment officer Keith Maguire pointed out that to assess the whole project, the YESAB would need the same level of the information it has now on the first two phases for the entire project.

As both he and Gau explained, in a subdivision that's expected to grow over decades, it's impossible to get to that level of detail needed for a YESAB submission on sections that are many years away.

"We're not assessing the master plan,” Maguire said. Pieces like the transportation study detailing the crossing help the board consider what the longer-term impacts of the development would be, he added.

If the decision is made to go ahead with the crossing, he said, it would be subject to an assessment review, similar to what is being done now on the first two phases.

Maguire went on to note the issue is something the board could be looking at more as it considers the public interest in the situation.

"It's something we're definitely aware of,” he said.

The city also came under fire for its plans as residents wondered about the previously talked about district heating system for the neighbourhood, only to learn it's now something being looked at for later phases.

While a geo-exchange study was done, Gau noted, it wasn't a detailed piece, and there are still questions about who would run the new utility and how the capital work would be funded. It's fairly easy to get money to study the possibilities, but funding to actually make it happen is difficult, Gau said.

"It's something we really want to do,” he said.

Others, meanwhile, took issue with the city cutting back on the greenspace that was originally envisioned for the community.

Gau argued that as the plans became more detailed for the area, some "trade-offs” had to be made to meet all the goals for the neighbourhood.

"It's a trade-off between development and green space,” he said.

Many continued to argue the neighbourhood will not be the sustainable community planners initially suggested it would be, and should perhaps be halted for now.

City planner Kindon Kosick, who's managing the Whistle Bend project, argued that it goes much further than any other neighbourhood has in sustainability.

All residents will be within five minutes of a bus stop, he said, and the higher density will help prevent urban sprawl. Though some of the green space has been reduced from what was initially proposed, he conceded, there are still the "green fingers” throughout the neighbourhood.

While YESAB officials listened to the range of comments, residents have until next Friday to let officials know their thoughts on the project.

The YESAB will then come up with a report with possible recommendations.