DAWSON CITY – Many of the questions that have dogged Dawson's planned new hospital project from the beginning are still on people's minds, a recent open house indicates.

About 28 people attended two sessions of the Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB)-sponsored open house to discuss plans for the new Dawson hospital.

The real purpose of the gathering was to discuss the site plan and design being proposed by the Yukon Hospital Corp. and designed by the architectural firm of Kobayashi and Zedda.

This was complicated by the fact that neither the computer-assisted design animation nor the posters on the wall, showing variations on the basic concept, were, in fact, designs that had passed muster at Dawson's historic advisory committee.

Committee member Shirley Pennell expressed her concern that the public was being shown concepts that had not been approved and were still due to be altered before they would be acceptable.

Mike Cowper, the hospital corporation's senior project manager, admitted the corporation is behind in preparations and that its representatives had "brought what they had” to show to the meeting.

The information on the open house poster indicated the project will begin this spring and cover two construction seasons. However, discussion at the meeting was that there would be three, with the facility opening in the fall of 2012.

While it was not really within the purview of this week's gathering, a number of people still wanted to argue against the selection of this site, which is behind the Dawson City Museum and beside Minto Park.

Sixth Avenue resident Sylvia Burkhard's home will fall under the shadow cast by the new building.

She has been opposed to the site from the beginning, and repeated her concerns about the loss of green space, the children's playground and historical use of the property.

More than 300 citizens signed a petition agreeing with her last year, but it was dismissed when it was presented in the legislature.

The hospital corporation has typically declined any responsibility for the site selection, indicating this is the site the government gave it to use. The government has refused to discuss any alternative sites.

The presentation by Cowper and Jack Kobayashi conceded that the site presents problems. It's small for both the project and the construction phase.

It's located beside a working nursing station and doctor's office which will be affected by the construction.

Lane access to both the ambulance ramp at the health centre and the Dawson City Museum must be maintained throughout the construction.

Access to sewer and water utility connections will have to be from Fifth Avenue, a block away, rather than from Sixth Avenue.

Glenda Bolt said the building will be too cramped, will overpower the residential neighbourhood, and will detract from the stature of the museum, a recognized building of historical significance.

Burkhard and senior citizen Barb Hanulik believe the new hospital will be extravagantly large for a town Dawson's size, and wondered where the patients will come from.

Cowper and corporation CEO Joe MacGillivray said the project's size is based on population projections running out to 2020 and taking into account Dawson's aging population.

They failed to mention what has been said in earlier meetings – that the hospital is intended to be a regional unit serving Old Crow, Mayo and as far south as Pelly Crossing.

The issue of just what to call this building arose once again. Sharon Edmunds asked that its functions be defined.

"What is a hospital?” asked Pennell, who believes the term needs qualification.

Surely the project will merely be a "cottage hospital” and should be advertised as such, she said, before people get exaggerated expectations.

Cowper said the new building will be a hospital in that people will be able to stay in it overnight. It will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as opposed to the daytime hours plus on-call system currently in use.

In addition to a nursing station, it will contain a doctors' clinic, space for a dentist, in-patient rooms, an ambulance bay, training rooms and spaces for a variety of health-related offices and programs.

"You'll have a single place that you can go to receive health services,” MacGillivray said.

On the other hand, there will still not be birthing facilities here and it's likely that many blood tests will still need to go elsewhere for processing.

Town councillor Stephen Johnson raised the issue of staffing. He noted that Dawson's current full-time doctor, Gerard Parsons, has indicated he will be starting a sabbatical year as of July 1.

He has not been able to recruit a replacement for his services and so far, the government has not addressed this issue publicly.

Where, Johnson wanted to know, is the corporation planning to find the staff to answer these and other needs?

"Recruitment's always going to be an issue,” Cowper said. "It's hopeful that having a more modern modern facility will attract more staff. It's also hoped that having this hospital will maybe encourage more specialists to come to Dawson.”

This, apparently, is part of the logic behind the construction of sprawling medical staff housing in Whitehorse.

"We're improving the accommodation there so we can get more specialists to come north to Whitehorse,” Cowper said. "Then the idea is that hopefully they will go to both Dawson and Watson more often.”

Housing for an expanded cadre of medical services personnel is another issue that was raised. There is a housing shortage in Dawson and a number of people at the meeting were among those who have lived here for some years by house sitting for vacationing home owners.

Where, residents wanted to know, would new staff be housed and are there any plans for building more staff houses?

There was no answer to these questions. The only major Yukon Housing Corp. project announced for the near future is the replacement of the Korbo apartment building, slated to begin this year.

The only expansion of residential lots under discussion is the one in the former Dome Road gravel pit, which is also the site of the contentious Slinky Mine.

The impasse between these competing projects has still not been addressed in any meaningful way by the government.

Pennell, along with Councillors Johnson and Bill Kendrick, did have a number of questions about the design of the building itself, beginning with the wall of windows by the proposed main entrance.

With the exception of the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre (also designed by Kobayashi and Zedda), no Dawson building has roof-to-ground windows.

The town's new Heritage Management Plan specifies that new large buildings should, where possible, be historically sympathetic to the historic motif and perhaps mimic the look for some pre-existing building.

Johnson questioned the used of flat roof space in the design. It was pointed out that most of the flatter roofs in town (the dangerously compromised curling rink being a prime example) have problems with snow load weights and with leaks caused by the melting/freezing glacial effect of heavy snowpack on a roof.

One of the concerns over the course of this debate has been the impact the hospital might have on the Dawson City Music Festival.

Jenna Roebuck, the festival's president, said the society has been assured that the annual festival can continue. Cowper confirmed that construction work will actually cease during the July festival weekend over the three-year building span.

The building has been designed so that there are no windows on the Minto Park side of the structure.

This will cut down on noise and any chance of damage from excessively long home run softballs hit out of the ball diamond there. In-patient rooms will be on the north side of the building for the same reason.

Because Sixth Avenue is quite narrow, the main entrance to the new hospital will be situated off the back lane that leads past Victory Gardens and continues to the museum parking lot. There will be a drive-through emergency medical service entrance off Sixth Avenue.

The time limit for comments to the YESAB will expire Friday.