Hi Swanky.
This is probably a pedantic difference but I do want to be sure we're all on the same page.
All pools are chlorine pools. The difference is in
how the chlorine gets into your pool. Your decision is between lugging jugs of liquid chlorine, or in installing a salt water
chlorine generator (SWCG or SWG) that uses chemistry (electrolysis) to use the salt in the water to create the same chlorine molecules that liquid chlorine has.
In one, you are buying jugs every few weeks and dosing the pool by hand every day. The other, you buy a fairly expensive piece of equipment (effectively prepaying for the chlorine you would have always had to buy) and then letting it do its thing.
As to your questions. Worries about the 'harshness of chlorine' arise out of a combination of poor maintenance, a lack of understanding about water chemistry in the pool store industry itself (who will actively try to sell you products that do nothing or even make things worse), and generally an unfounded societal fear of 'chemicals' which is now used as a curse word, usually to sell something else.
Equally, worries about the effects of salt on landscaping etc. are basically unproven and seem unlikely given the actual salinity of a pool is significantly lower than sea water, and not that different to that of tears. If any erosion is noticed, it would have happened anyway and is more likely due to splash out in general, wind, soft stones that are susceptible to that sort of thing to begin with etc..
I hope this was helpful. Please continue to ask lots of questions and we'll be here every step of your build and start-up to make sure you get a great pool up and running and looking amazing for years to come.
