Whitehorse 2040: Official Community Plan Review

Thank you for your question about increased Downtown building height allowances and public notifications for new developments.

Under the current development review process, if a new development meets the zoning bylaw requirements, there is no obligation for the City to notify surrounding residents of the development application. 

This question and the concerns expressed will be included in the Second Public Hearing Report for the Proposed OCP, to be considered by Council prior to the adoption of the Proposed OCP. 

Please note that a Zoning Bylaw rewrite will occur following the adoption of the Proposed OCP. You will have another opportunity to voice these concerns during the Public Engagement period of this rewrite.

Thank you for your comment about the creation and impact of dust in the community. 

Your comment will be considered during the final review/ revisions of the OCP and reflected in our summary of what we heard during this process for Council's consideration.

Thank you for your question!

The actual zoning of specific properties, or the language/ regulations used in the RC2 zone, is captured under the Zoning Bylaw; however, the OCP provides high-level policy guidance to the Zoning Bylaw. 

For this topic, policies surrounding secondary suites and Country Residential areas can be found in Section 10 Housing and Section 14.15 Residential - Country. 

Following the OCP's approval, the Zoning Bylaw will be updated to ensure consistency with the OCP --at that time, specific changes to the RC2 zone, and RC2x sub-zone, may be completed.  

For now, we will consider your question as feedback as we do final reviews/ revisions of the OCP, and specifically the sections as listed above.

The City is not considering new traffic calming in neighbourhoods at this time. 

The City has heard from residents about the desire for more traffic calming in residential neighbourhoods. Through the development of the Transportation Master Plan, the City is exploring ways to potentially formalize a traffic calming policy with the goal to create an equitable and consistent approach that considers the needs of all road users, maintenance operations, emergency response needs, and impacted residents.

Keep posted on the Transportation Master Plan project on EngageWhitehorse.ca!

Based on the staff prepared “Accommodating Future Residential Demand in Whitehorse” report published in August 2021, the City needs to ensure opportunities to allow for at least new 6,150 units to accommodate growth to 2040. This number accounts for a number of factors, including a 25 % contingency to 2030. 

There are many remaining growth and redevelopment opportunities which could accommodate Whitehorse’s housing requirements to 2040 without developing the South Growth Area. These opportunities include redevelopment in the Downtown, residential intensification, completion of Whistle Bend, development on settlement lands and the development of the South Valleyview Area (i.e. Tank Farm and surrounding area). 

The South Growth Area is proposed to be planned no that it is ready for construction in the case where other development opportunities are not advanced. Acknowledging that planning of a large-scale neighbourhood such as the South Growth Area will take many years, the Draft Official Community Plan calls for further planning and feasibility studies. Once the planning for this area is complete government partners will be in a position to advance the development of the South Growth Area when it is needed. The timing of the development or construction of this area would be informed by the status of other developments and up-to-date population projections.  

Thank you Jennifer for your comments and questions. Find below some answers, that hopefully you'll find helpful:

1. The Alaska Highway is owned and managed by the Government of Yukon. As such, infrastructure improvements are managed by YG. When such improvements are planned, City Administration provides technical comments to YG staff so that the improvements meet the needs of the community by providing active transportation trails as an example.

Current Alaska Highway improvement projects are described on this page: 

https://yukon.ca/en/alaska-highway-safety-improvements

For more information on Whitehorse area improvement upgrades, YG has provided this email : hpw-info@yukon.ca

2. The City follows the Transit Master Plan. Currently, there are no plans to extend transit services outside of the urban containment boundary. 

3. The City property tax is a community levy charged across all properties to maintain the programs and services for the entire community as opposed to a ‘fee for service’ like water and sewer or waste pick-up. These services are billed, in addition to property taxes, directly to urban dwellers that receive these services.

Country Residential taxpayers can enjoy virtually the same services as urban dwellers; commuting in the city center on the same roads, with the same street lights, and having access to the same city departments, including fire, bylaw, and recreation.

The City strives to keep property tax increases as low as possible and levy only what is needed to maintain services and make improvements where needed. Therefore, your specific property tax bill will vary year by year according to your property assessment and the City’s mil rate. In assessment years, when property values increase, the City typically rolls back the mil rate to offset the full increase in taxes that owners would typically pay. This is in line with the principle that the City will only tax what is absolutely needed to deliver all City services.

The video below explains how municipal property taxes are calculated based on property assessments and the cost of municipal services. Please note that Yukon properties are reassessed every two years and not every four years as per the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgGbLotF_QQ

Thank you Roy for your comment. Your comment will be reflected in our summary public input report for Council consideration.

Thank you for your comments - they will be considered for the Final Draft OCP.

Thank you for your comment. The Draft OCP includes the following policies:

8.20 To facilitate intensification of uses in the Downtown, the City will:

ii. Consider increased building heights or lot coverage in selected areas.

14.8.7 To promote the concentration of commercial and higher-density residential uses within the Downtown, buildings up to 32.5m may be considered.

Factors that should be reviewed during the consideration of approving taller buildings include: (...)

• Proposed approach to accommodating parking requirements;

• Proximity to active transportation and transit routes;

• Architectural design of the building and visual impact it will have on the streetscape,

both on the street it is proposed and those surrounding, specifically on Main Street;

• The transition between the proposed building and allowable development for those surrounding;

• Creation of shadows to surrounding properties;

• View corridors;

• Capacity of the City’s fire response system; and

• Capacity of the City’s municipal servicing network.

Through the Draft OCP engagement, we've received a lot of interest on this topic - our next step is reviewing the comments. Please keep posted for the What We Heard report and the Final Draft OCP!