After months of debate, it might be fair to say that city council members know both the heights of success and the depth of despair when it comes to how tall municipal buildings can be.
Council members debated that issue ad nauseam again on Monday evening without coming to a resolution.
The argument followed another presentation by Nathan Millar from the Downtown Residents Association (DRA). He has appeared before council previously to question members on why some feel a need to allow buildings as high as 40 metres.
“Just to be clear, the DRA opposes the bylaw proceeding. The DRA also opposes the amended bylaw proceeding,” he told council.
Millar was referring to the 12-storey or 40-metre proposal that’s been bedevilling council for some time.
“I think the report before you tonight makes it clear that 12-storey buildings are not the answer to the problems you are trying to solve,” he said.
“They’re not the solution to climate change. They’re not the solution to addressing housing affordability. They’re not needed to address Whitehorse’s population growth.
“These are important problems, to be clear, but they need a set of solutions for those types of problems, and 12-storey buildings are not on that list.”
Millar also downplayed the importance of public hearings to processes such as building heights.
“I don’t think public hearings are a great avenue of having a conversation.”
He noted as well there clearly isn’t much support amongst the public for the concept. The city’s own survey of residents indicated that, Millar added.
“We have clarity. We don’t need a public hearing to revisit that.”
Once again the council spent some time discussing issues such as shadows and winds associated with soaring buildings without coming to a consensus amongst their ranks.
Coun. Ted Laking has been the primary advocate for raising building heights as a way of combating housing shortages and urban sprawl.
He hasn’t changed his position, at one point Monday even telling Mayor Laura Cabott, “We’ve been debating this since February. Let’s just make a decision,” after she suggested sending it back for more information from staff.
Later in the meeting, council went around and around on the issue yet again – without much of a resolution.
Although most of the members spoke in favour of sending the matter back to city staff for more study and information, an informal consensus was arrived at that will send it to the next regular council meeting for a decision on the bylaw.
That should occur next week.
