A country residential lot lottery was held last Thursday, with 51 lots in the Whitehorse Copper subdivision up for grabs.

John Cole is the manager of client services with the lands branch of the Department of Energy, Mines, and Resources. He said there was a normal amount of interest in the lottery, with 87 applicants for the lots and 25 people present to observe the lottery process at the Elijah Smith Building.

The lots available ranged in size from one hectare to 2.02 hectares, and had an average sale price of $93,378. The most expensive lot was $129,961, and the least expensive lot was $78,408.

'It's always helpful to have lottery lots,' Cole said. 'This one went quite well.'

Applicants had to pay a $26.15 non-refundable application fee, which included the GST. They also had to pay a $300 deposit, which is refundable if the applicants withdrew before the draw date or if their name was not drawn.

The last draw for country residential lots took place in April, when 31 applicants tried to obtain the last six country residential lots near the Takhini Hot Springs Road.

Phase two of the Whitehorse Copper subdivision, which is near McRae, has yet to be determined, with work on infrastructure roads currently taking place. Cole guessed the lottery for the 59 phase two lots would likely take place in early to middle autumn.

Once successful applicants have obtained the lots, they have to sign an agreement of sale document with the Yukon Housing Corp. At that point, they can begin development whenever they wish.

'It's totally up to them when they get started,' Cole said. 'It could be very soon that building starts. But that's outside of the lottery process, so I'm not too sure.'

Cynthia Onions and her husband, David Black, were the first applicants drawn during the lottery process, and Onions was very pleased to have the first pick.

'The lot we chose was pretty popular among a lot of people, so we were very happy,' Onions said.

Although the lot they picked was one of the smaller ones available, they wanted it because it will have great views of the surrounding area, and the green space behind them will most likely not be developed upon.

'It's not one of the biggest ones out there, but it's still a little bigger than what we have now,' Onions said.

She said they won't start building anytime soon because they want to take their time with the development process. They hope to make it a highly-efficient residence, and are currently researching renewable resources and sustainable energy solutions.

'We've got something on paper, but we're not rushing to get it done,' she said. 'We're going to have something with a small footprint made out of good quality materials, as opposed to something huge.'

On May 18, the last 11 urban lots in Whitehorse were given away in a similar lottery process. The lots in Copper Ridge will be the last to be developed in the city for quite some time, with no more lots made available until at least 2009.

A vote was held on May 31 to see if city residents wished to proceed with the lower Porter Creek Bench multiyear residential plan, as well as approximately 100 lots in a green space next to the Arkell subdivision.

The plan was voted in, and it's estimated the lower bench lots could be available in 2009, although a date has not been confirmed.

Urban planners are also busy looking at 100 or so lots in the Takhini North subdivision that could become available within a year or two, as well as the possibility of approximately 280 lots in the controversial Yukon College endowment lands.