City planning staff are proposing a major shift in the allowable residential density in the old part of downtown.

The proposal will be considered by city council this evening as part of the zoning bylaw review.

The proposal calls for increasing the standard zoning from single-family residential to allow multiple housing with a cap of four units per lot.

Planning staff presented the proposal Tuesday evening at a public meeting held to gather more input on the type of housing that should be enabled in the Old Town.

The initial meeting was held in mid-February, and from that meeting, planning staff returned with a set of refined proposals that included the increase in allowable density.

The whole discussion was prompted by two multi-housing developments which recently received special permission from city council to proceed.

Following the approval, however, Coun. Kirk Cameron called for a moratorium on any more conditional use applications.

Council needed time, he insisted, to glean a better understanding of what Old Town residents wanted for their neighbourhood, which is zoned to allow for single-family and duplex developments.

Cameron said entertaining individual applications for special permission to build larger multi-housing projects was an emotional and divisive affair for local residents.

City council has approved nine multi-housing developments in the Old Town since 2000.

Those include the two projects approved in early February and the tri-plex on Wheeler Street completed by Habitat for Humanity a year ago.

The plan for the Old Town, described as the area between Sixth Avenue and the clay cliffs, and Wood Street to Ogilvie Street, does express a preference for maintaining the single-family character of the neighbourhood.

The Official Community Plan, on the other hand, allows for larger multi-unit developments through a conditional use application, and the plan does encourage increased density in existing neighbourhoods.

Other proposals brought forward by planning staff Tuesday included a reduction in the allowable building height from 10 to eight metres, while raising the portion of the lot which can be covered by buildings from 45 to 50 per cent.

It's recommended that any developments above one storey would have to be tiered, to avoid the square-box appearance while reducing the amount of shading for the neighbour.

Parking for new housing should be provided at the rear through lane-way access, it is being proposed.

Staff are suggesting that consolidating two lots to allow for projects larger than four units – as was the case with the recent approval for the eight-plex on Ogilvie – should not be allowed.

City planner Ben Campbell told those in attendance Tuesday that the city is experiencing significant growth.

It will take everything in the bank to keep up with the growth, he added: the new Whistle Bend subdivision, all of its options for infilling vacant areas in existing subdivisions, and boosting residential density where possible.

Feedback from residents at Tuesday's meeting varied.

Pushing parking to the rear not only heightens the security risk from those who like to lurk in back alleys, but it would also remove the neighbourly contact that comes from being beside each other in the front yard, it was said.

Some liked raising the allowable density to four units per lots. Others didn't.

And some thought there should be a limit on the number of four-unit developments allowed on each block, perhaps one or two for every block.

Shortening the allowable distance from the house to the street from 4.6 metres to two metres would box in existing homes that are already back 4.6 metres from the street, it was said.

City council is scheduled this evening to get its first look at the new draft zoning bylaw which will contain recommendations from staff for housing in the Old Town and a number of other proposed changes.

It's expected, for instance, to address last summer's public debate around backyard chicken coops in urban subdivisions, and whether the law should be changed to allow them.

Planning manager Mike Gau told Tuesday's audience the draft bylaw will be out next week to begin a month-long period of review by Whitehorse residents.

The process to approve the bylaw in its final form also includes a period for public review and a formal public hearing before city council.

The intent is to have the new zoning bylaw in place by the end of June, according to planning staff.