The stoves at the heart of the matter. Photo used permission of Lamppa Kuuma.


PREVIOUSLY

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Sauna entrepreneur Zachary Vondrak didn’t get a load of ice water flung on his project at last night’s Arcata Planning Commission meeting, but the city did decide it wanted a little more time to make sure he wasn’t full of hot air.

Vondrak is proposing a contrast therapy facility on 40 South G Street across from the Marsh, complete with two saunas and cold plunge tanks constructed out of 8x20 foot cedar-lined shipping containers. His business would also manufacture the same type of saunas to-order in the back; Vondrak said several interested buyers have already reached out to place an order.

The commissioners and the members of the general public who showed up to comment all seemed to like the idea — one woman who lives nearby said she was excited to have a sauna just down the street — but several of the commissioners and residents were worried about a potential increase in traffic on South G, which two people claimed has quadrupled over the last couple years. Vondrak had estimated a maximum number of 220 people would come daily to use the facility, but at the meeting, he clarified that broke down to around 20 people arriving every hour for the duration of their operating hours. 

Director of Community Development David Loya also brought up the South Arcata Multi-Modal Safety Improvement Plan, a comprehensive upgrade to the area’s pedestrian infrastructure that will add crosswalks, chicanes, and medians on South G. Hopefully, he said, it’ll incentivize people to walk to the facility. Because starting the project is dependent on Arcata winning a grant, it’s not a sure bet, but Loya said if they get it construction would begin in early 2027. And even if it doesn’t, Loya said he believed in the engineering department’s ability to make it happen some other way. 

Stickier is Vondrak’s desire to heat his saunas by burning wood, which he said he’s “extremely passionate” about. Arcata banned the installation of new wood-burning appliances in 2024, and the commission, at first, didn’t seem likely to make an exception to a strict law. One of the conditions in the original permit the commission was considering granting Vondrak was that the facility not burn wood to heat the saunas, in accordance with the law. But Vondrak did manage to get the permit hearing continued until the commission’s next meeting by touting the abilities of his preferred stove. 

The Kuuma BluFlame, he claimed, can burn off almost all of the wood smoke it burns, turning it into vapor, called a “gasification” system. Vondrak claimed it was EPA-certified, only needed four pounds of wood every 90 minutes, was way cheaper and hotter than using natural gas or an electric system, and hardly produced any soot. He showed the commission a few minutes of a YouTube video the company filmed that demonstrates the tiny amount of smoke the stove made. 

Most of the commissioners said they were more worried about the invisible particulate matter the stove could be throwing off, but they were interested enough that they decided they’d take two weeks to do some research so they could consider giving Vondrak the go-ahead. Commissioner Peter Lehman was an exception; he rejected the idea that the stove was any better than one that put out visible smoke. 

“I have experience with gasification technology, and those are nice words that you said, but, yes, there are particulates coming out of the smokestack, and yes, they are unhealthful,” Lehman said. “And I just can’t support burning wood in Arcata…we just can’t have more particulate matter. And I don’t think the city should support wood burning.”

Commissioner Dan Tangney said he felt “stuck.” The law prevents adding more wood-burning, but he liked that Vondrak would revitalize an “ugly,” empty bit of industrial property. Commissioner Abigail Strickland said she realized technology was constantly changing, and Vondrak’s claims were worth looking into. 

The vote to extend the hearing was unanimous.