City council has been asked to reapprove phase nine of the multi-year Whistle Bend subdivision development.

The 8.3 hectares of vacant Commissioner’s land application was conditionally approved by council on July 25, 2022, for a one-year period. It now needs to be reapproved by council this year. 

To ensure the continued development of the area, YG has asked council to give the green light for phase nine, in accordance with the city’s subdivision control bylaw. Six more large lots will be created after approval, which is estimated to be enough room for 130 to 170 units. 

One thing that has been much-discussed is traffic along Mountainview Drive, which leads into Porter Creek and the industrial area, as well as the infrastructure in Whistle Bend. 

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Coun. Ted Laking was worried about whether there will be a substantial infrastructure cost coming down to the city in the near future for upgrades in those areas.

He asked whether YG will financially support building further infrastructure, since the Whistle Bend development agreement has not made that clear. 

Though renegotiation for the agreement is not part of the reapproval, recommendations can be provided, as more applications for Whistle Bend phases will come in the future. About 4,000 people live there now.

Coun. Kirk Cameron suggested sending the agreement back to administration for a review, as he believes there could still be conditions that do not really meet the city’s best interests. 

Mayor Laura Cabott is concerned about YG potentially pulling back from the development as more conditions are added to the agreement. 

Kinden Kosick, the city’s land development supervisor, is not sure whether YG will pull back from the development, as the infrastructure in the phase nine area is way down the road, but it will still be an agreement that’s open to discussions. 

The timeline for complex negotiations would be months or even years. 

The discussion has triggered a “déja-vu” for Coun. Dan Boyd. 

“I sense the Municipal Act is a little outdated,” he said. “That only gives us this amount of time to get this development done. And perhaps, it should be revisited and maybe updated.

“We can’t build buildings in two years now, like big, complicated multi-family buildings that often take more than two years to build.” 

Perhaps council needs to visit the timelines in the Municipal Act, Boyd said. Yet again, he wanted to play the game cautiously, which reminded the council that putting more things into the agreement could cause another huge delay that would delay development schedules.

The concept for the area was developed in 2006, and a master plan for the neighborhood was approved in 2009 for the development of phases one through seven.

The city has completed the planning and preliminary engineering work for the remaining area in Whistle Bend’s A, B, and C areas, with area C becoming the next four phases of development. 

Council will discuss the matter further next week.