Yukon gov't officials expressed doubts about retirement home location

Internal Yukon government documents show that some senior officials and technical advisors had serious reservations about placing the $269-million extended care facility in the city's Whistle Bend subdivision.

According to one April 2014 briefing note to the minister of public works, the subdivision was on the list of sites being considered but was deemed the least desirable site. Porter Creek was the top pick, with Riverdale second, Copper Ridge third and Whistle Bend last.

That briefing note came after a geotechnical report submitted earlier in the same month by Whitehorse-based Tetra Tech EBA. It evaluated sites based on a number of factors — including subsurface, groundwater and permafrost conditions — and provided the same ranking of sites.  

The emails, memos and briefing notes, which date back to 2013, were obtained under an access to information request by Whitehorse resident Tamara Goeppel, who shared them with the CBC.

"I suspected that there are other agendas at stake and it seemed like there was more a service to a government need than to actually service the needs of the people that will be residing in the continuing care facility," said Goeppel.

Whistle Bend has "high silt contents" and a water table which could lead to frost heaves, and a foundation there would "consume significant project budget," according to a May 2014 briefing note to the minster.

But that same note indicates that, on April 9, "instructions were provided by the senior management that sites in Porter Creek, Riverdale and Copper Ridge should be taken off the table for any further work whereas, the site in Whistle Bend remains under the scope."

The documents don't explain why the least desirable site was the only one actually left on the table.  

Whistle Bend location 'a nightmare'

Cathy Morton-Bielz, the assistant deputy minister of continuing care at the Department of Health and Social Services, warned against building the facility in Whistle Bend.

"Whistle Bend is not a strong second...because it is not in an established community," she wrote a colleague in the Department of Public Works. "Placing a care facility in an empty field with no community is really a nightmare and will haunt the government..."

That plea appeared to fall on deaf ears.

A draft business case analysis conducted by T-Square Architecture also cited the "higher cost of construction" and said Whistle Bend doesn't meet the government's own site selection criteria because it's not an "existing, well-established Whitehorse neighbourhood."

The company recommended Porter Creek as the site of the facility.

Despite all the objections, a November 2014 government memo identified Whistle Bend as the "consensus preferred location."

One month later, Morton-Bielz wrote colleagues in the government, saying, "If this is the site you have for us, then the decision is made."

A public hearing about the project was planned for March 2015 but never took place.

"This is a community issue," said Goeppel.

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Premier Darrell Pasloski did not deal directly with the ranking.

He wrote that the location for the facility was "determined after an extensive planning process between officials and governments" and that "there is an urgent need for this continuing care facility in Yukon."

The statement said the next step in the project will be "targeted consultations with seniors' groups and stakeholders."