Yukon's Takhini Hot Springs wants hotter pools, more natural look

Takhini Hot Springs Ltd. has filed for environmental permits to replace the existing pool and facility with five or six more natural-looking pools.

The current pool, about 15 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse,is atthe end of its economic life and the commercial operation there would have to be shut down if it's not replaced, according to the application documents.

Work on the first of the new pools is expected to begin soon, said corporate president Garry Umbrich.

"Basically the idea is, instead of looking from the pool over the parking lot, the new pools will look over the pond and the mountains," he said.

Umbrich said the redevelopment will be based on a Japanese style that uses natural rock and the first poolwill be used as a test to determine how well theyfunction in the winter.

Then the construction of a large family or warm pool and smaller hot and cold pools would follow, with outdoor showers, sauna and steam room to be completed in about two years, he said.

"The day we open the new pool, we'll close the old pool.We don't want any interruption in service.

"We're doing it in such a way that, say, on Sunday night two years from now we close the old pool, we turn the valve, the water goes to the new pools and the next morning we open the new facility," Umbrich said.

Part of the new facility would also eventually include an area for group rentals, he said.

The application documents say almost 500,000 litres of water flow from the hotsprings every day.

The area traditionally was used by the Ta'an Kwch'n First Nation, according to the application. It saysa member of the First Nation showed it to a man named William Puckett in 1907, "who promptly registered title of the hot springs for $10 and the hot springs was alienated from the Ta'an Kwch'n."

The company is proposing to highlight the history of the springs including First Nation use and military use during and after the Second World War.

Building new pools is part a bigger re-development plan aimed at expanding the TakhiniHotSprings Road as an attraction for Yukoners and visitors.