The Yukon government has asked the city to rezone a section of the escarpment from environmental protection to airport land to allow for the lengthening of a secondary runway.

Once extended, the runway will meet Canadian Aviation Regulations. It will be able to serve as an alternate runway to the main runway, capable of handling large jet traffic such as Boeing 737 flights.

Regulations require that once the volume of airport passengers surpasses a certain threshold, the runways require a runway end safety area.

The current airport property boundary does not leave sufficient space to construct the 150-metre runway safety area at the north end of the runway closest to escarpment, says the administrative report provided to council last Monday.

First reading of the bylaw required to amend the zoning is scheduled to go before city council this evening.

The Yukon government is currently conducting a Heritage Review and Impact Assessment in the area at the top of Puckett’s Gulch.

As part of the project, the Yukon government is planning to move the airside road, fence and a section of the Airport Trail to comply with regulations.

Barton Hatton of the Department of Highways and Public Works appeared before council last Monday to explain the project.

Hatton insisted the intent is to ensure access and public use of the Airport Trail is maintained.

Downtown resident Peter Long also appeared before council to emphasize the importance of the Airport Trail as an active transportation route.

The city’s Official Community Plan says Whitehorse residents should have good places to walk, and the Airport Trail is a good place, said Long, who expressed concern the section of trail at the top of Puckett’s Gulch could be lost.

Hatton said while the trail will be located a bit lower than it is now, it will be maintained as a walking trail.

The project will also require the transfer of ownership of the land from the city to the government.

As a condition of subdivision approval, a development agreement between the city and the government will be required, says the administrative report.

“Conditions of the development will include that YG will need to submit a detailed engineering design for approval by the city’s manager of engineering services,” says the report.

“The detailed report will need to address the following items:

Potential impacts to the escarpment area and slope stabilization;

Potential impacts to the escarpment hazard zones at the bottom of the slope;

Current slope stability issues in the project area and the expected stability issues after slope modification;

A storm management plan around the area of interest for existing and modified conditions;

Design of the proposed sanitary sewer manholes configuration, and;

A geotechnical review addressing any groundwater concerns.

The report says the detailed engineering design will need to demonstrate that the proposed project would not extend the moderate geo-hazard area boundary further into the downtown area.