Busy access road to new Whitehorse subdivision will disrupt Porter Creek area: resident

At least one resident in Whitehorse's Porter Creek area said she was concerned about the heavy traffic a main access road for the city's proposed Whistle Bend subdivision would bring to the neighbourhood.

Jenn Meurer said the city never mentioned such a road in its initial plans for Whistle Bend, situated in the Porter Creek lower bench area.

Residents are worried about the impact of the road, she told a city council meeting Monday night, as it is likely to have twice as much traffic as main thoroughfares such as Hamilton Boulevard.

The Whistle Bend development is to eventually house as many as 8,000 residents and act as the city's main source of residential lots for the next 20 years, officials said.

"We wanted to have a central hub and gathering place for the community that could accommodate living and working and playing, as well as promoting walking and preserving natural space," city planner Kinden Kosick said at Monday night's council meeting.

"We wanted to have mixed densities and land uses, as well as commercial opportunities and provision of green space."

Kosick said planners have spent the past few years consulting with every related association, agency and group on the Whistle Bend proposal.

Meurer said the final plan has the access road running close to where she lives, which worries her given the expected volume of traffic.

"My concern is that we can anticipate that there is going to be a traffic issue. And yet despite the opportunity to plan for it, we're not going to," she said.

"So, I really feel that the traffic should be accommodated more equitably between Mountain View and Range Road."

Meurer said the access road was not included in Whistle Bend maps she saw in past consultations, including a planning meeting she attended in October.

"So, when it came out in the final concept on the website — probably three weeks ago, a month ago — it was … a bit startling for the people who live quite close to it," she said.

Other Porter Creek residents will likely appear before council in the near future with more detailed concerns about the Whistle Bend proposal, Meurer said.