What’s the status of the hospital expansion project in Sitka? When the Sitka Assembly meets tonight (11-26-24), it will hear an update from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) on the ongoing construction of its new hospital building on Japonski Island.
In 2021 SEARHC entered into a joint venture agreement with the Indian Health Service to build the new hospital– at the time it was projected to cost around $300 million. Construction began in 2022 and the design for the hospital was complete in 2023. Hospital Administrator Bill Spivey will give the assembly an update on the timeline for the hospital.
In other business, the assembly will consider an update to the city code that would update the permit process for commercial use of city-owned recreational sites. According to a memo from leaders of the city’s parks and rec and planning departments, this is the first step in the process to address concerns about overuse and overcrowding of recreation sites as the tourism industry grows in Sitka.
The new permitting process involves creating a use plan that identifies the carrying capacity for the city’s recreational areas and under what conditions commercial use would be allowed in those areas. According to the memo, the assembly will review that plan in December.
The Sitka Assembly meets at 6 p.m. tonight. Raven News will broadcast the meeting live, following Alaska News Nightly.
