Members of the Sitka Assembly and the Gary Paxton Industrial Park board gathered on the afternoon of November 8 for a photo op with a golden shovel on the site of the former Northline barge ramp where the new facility is to be constructed.
Then the group moved into the former Northline building, which will be repurposed for use in Sitka’s future boatyard.
Garry White is the director of Sitka’s industrial park.
“I envision this will probably be the office area in the back,” said White. “We’ve got a large shop that can have multiple different uses. This will be a good addition, and it’s right in the center of our whole development here. And of course, the hall out piers will go right out here, and our wash down path will be right there. So yes, this has good synergies for the whole project.”
Despite the fact that the city was ceremonially breaking ground on the project, White was clearly frustrated with the lack of movement in obtaining the necessary government permits to develop in the intertidal area. Most of the $8.2 million dollars on hand for Phase I of the project involves placing fill for piers to accommodate a 150-ton travelift. The intent is to expand the project to eventually handle a 300-ton travelift, but – at least for the moment – White says the work is on hold.
“So now here we are, when we were supposed to start October 15, they’re telling us that we’re not going to be able to get their stuff down until at least November 26, so then it has to go through the Army Corps process,” said White.
Municipal engineer Michael Harmon is overseeing the project. He was confident that the facility would be ready by spring next year. Although there’s very little upland work involved in Phase I, Harmon said it would begin on schedule. The upland work includes the construction of a temporary washdown pad and wash-water pre-treatment facility. There is partial funding for a boat work and storage area.
Overall, with Phase I, Sitka is building a way to haul most of the local fleet out of the water for basic work and emergency repairs. A full-service boatyard with vendor space and other amenities is still millions of dollars away. A total projected budget is just under $30 million dollars, more than three times the available funding.
Read the Gary Paxton Industrial Park Marine Haulout and Ship Yard charter.
Assembly member Thor Christianson was encouraged by the groundbreaking, and said he planned to be on site when the first boat came out of the water next spring.
“That was the whole reason why we put it on the ballot two years ago, just over two years ago,” he said, “was to watch boats come out of the water and get worked on.”
Two-thirds of Sitka voters approved the sale of Sitka Community Hospital in 2021; a year later, a ballot question to allocate the $8.2 million in proceeds from that sale to the construction of a marine haul out was approved by 80-percent of voters.
