First Nation proposes gravel quarry near Whitehorse subdivision

The Ta'an Kwach'anCouncil in Whitehorse is proposing to build a sand and gravel quarry just off the Alaska Highway, nearthe Valleyview subdivision.

The First Nation's development arm, the Da DaghayDevelopment Corporation, has applied to the City of Whitehorse to amend the city'sOfficial Community Plan (OCP) to allow the quarry.

Right now, the 12.2-hectare parcel of settlement land is designated for residential developmentunder the OCP.

The site is on the west side of the Alaska Highway, about 330 metres south of the Valleyview subdivision. According to the OCP, there must be a minimum 300-metre buffer between any quarry and existing residential properties.

The site is also surrounded by other undeveloped residential lots. Under the proposed amendment, those wouldn't be protected by the same 300-metre buffer.

According to Da Daghay's proposal, the site contains about 1.6 million cubic metres of accessible sand and gravel.

The quarry would have a life of about 20 years, but there wouldn't be steady activity at the site, according to city planner Mike Ellis.

"The proposal is for the most intensive activity the crushing, the sorting, the most noise-generating, the most dust-generating activities to be only one month of the year," Ellis told councillorsMonday evening.

He said trucks could be coming and going from the site year-round, however.

"But that's viewed as much less of a nuisance and certainly similar to, say, the noise generated by the Alaska Highway or the airport other noisy things that are also nearby here," Ellis said.

The project is also intended to help prepare the land parcel for future development. The quarryactivity would remove a slope and bring the property level with the highway, Ellis said.

The OCP amendment will be voted on by council in the coming weeks.

If approved, the projectfaces several more hurdles an assessment by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economicAssessment Board, a city zoning amendmentand a development permit.