Major building projects top Sitka headlines in 2025
- Daily Sitka Sentinel
- Jan 1
- 16 min read
By Shannon Haugland and Anna Laffrey
Daily Sitka Sentinel
In 2025, Sitka saw growth and progress — but also questioned it.
The opening of the new airport terminal, complete with Sitka’s first escalator, the haul out of the first vessel at the city’s new boatyard, construction of the new Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center and the opening of the new Hítx’i Sáani (Little Houses) for Sitka’s unhoused population were all marks of progress during the year.
Sitkans continued adjusting to increased cruise tourism, with a special election on an initiative petition proposing limits on the number of tourists in town per day and per year. The question failed by a 2-1 margin.
Sitkans took significant steps toward addressing housing and child care needs, as a way to attract and keep young families in Sitka, and making the town more affordable. Baranof Island Housing Association, Sitka Community Land Trust, and the city all made strides in meeting housing goals.
Education had its highs and lows with schools and educators honored along the way for excellence. Sitka schools lobbied the Alaska Board of Education to continue funding education to the cap, and give full support for other school related activities. Sitka’s Sen. Bert Stedman and Rep. Rebecca Himschoot fought at the state level for per-student increases, which were vetoed by the governor, then overridden during the summer by the Legislature. Blatchley Middle School in November celebrated their Blue Ribbon award for high academic performance and closing achievement gaps.
The Board of Education heard concerns that a mental health crisis was unfolding at Mt. Edgecumbe High School this fall, following difficult budget cuts and major changes in administration, staffing and day-to-day activities for students enrolled in the state-run boarding high school this semester. Staff, parents and students spoke of concerns and asked for support in meetings held over Zoom throughout the year.
Sitka Tribe of Alaska provided services, protected resources and exercised sovereign rights for its 5,000 citizens, 1,500 of whom reside in Sitka. The tribal government offered many events and classes open to the public, including weekly Zumba, yoga and arts classes, regular oceanside gatherings, an annual picnic, a month of offerings for Native American Heritage Month in November, and the STA annual meeting Dec. 2. Sitka Native Education Program celebrated its 50th anniversary in April with a koo.éex’ dedicated to the program’s half-century of Indigenous education, cultural preservation, and community empowerment.
On other quality-of-life issues, city parks and recreation programs continued to flourish with the development of a full public pool program at Blatchley, record-setting City League adult volleyball participation, and a new community choir with more than 100 signups. Summer rec had another busy summer of programs for kids in particular, and response was enthusiastic to a new all-ages Dungeons & Dragons program.
Arts organizations offered nonstop events and fundraisers this year, even as most nonprofits felt the stress of rising costs, combined with state and federal funding cuts. Entertainment made a difference, with music, concerts, art shows, dances, theater productions, films, parades, dance shows, cabarets, circus arts, storytelling and nonprofit organization fundraisers.
The Hames family celebrated with the community their company’s 75th year in the grocery business, but in a bittersweet and not-altogether-surprising announcement said it was time for new ownership. In the last month of the year, Roger and Mary Hames said they had selected Albertson’s/Safeway from among the offers to purchase Seamart and other retail businesses the family owns in town.
Cruise ship season, ballot prop
By a more than 2-to-1 margin, voters in a May 28 special election turned down a ballot proposition to limit cruise ship visitation.
The initiative petition sponsoring group “Vote Yes on 1 for Sitka’s Small Town Soul,” squared off for months with members of “Safeguard Sitka’s Future – Vote No on 1.” Members of both groups held a May 6 town hall debate that drew hundreds of impassioned participants. With rejection of the initiative, the numbers of cruise visitors will continue to be managed with negotiated agreements between the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal and the city.
Sitka’s cruise ship season ran from April 29 to October 1, with a total of 579,000 visitors, a slight drop from last year’s record of 600,780. After closing Lincoln Street to vehicular traffic on heavy cruise visitation days for the past few summers, the Assembly decided to leave it open as a trial for for the 2025 season. They also agreed to place mobile restooms on Maksoutoff Street, which meant the street was closed to vehicles for the cruise season.
After much consultation with commercial recreation stakeholders, and substantial public comment, the Assembly adopted a new permit system, limits and regulations for the use of the city's public recreational land. Permits will be issued for 2026.
The visitor industry grew 27% from 2023 to 2024, becoming the city's second-highest employer, behind the government, according to the latest figures available.
In other economic news, a report by the economic consulting firm Rain Coast Data said health care employment accounted for the highest total earnings in Sitka at $67.3 million and 782 jobs, followed by seafood ($64.9 million, 912 jobs), and the visitor industry ($51.4 million, 1,138 jobs). Government (U.S. Coast Guard, Forest Service, city, school district, state, and other federal) is the largest sector, with 1,167 positions and $79.6 million in total earnings.
Haulout Opens
Three years after voters approved dedicating $8.2 million from the sale of Sitka Community Hospital property to the construction of a city-owned boat haulout, the facility and adjacent shipyard opened with a Sept. 18 ribbon-cutting ceremony. Speakers noted the potential for expanding the capacity of the sling lift from 150 tons to 300 tons. The first boat was hauled out September 23.
Highmark Marine Fabrication LLC, based in Kodiak, was selected to run the city facility. The Assembly drew criticism for its decision from members of the fishing fleet, and questions were raised about user insurance requirements. The Assembly approved over $700,000 in additional capital costs to reduce the rates to boatyard customers.
Airport Renovated
Hundreds of people went to the airport August 15 for an open house inaugurating Sitka’s first-ever escalator, a component of the two-story terminal building that is still under construction. People queued up to step onto the ride to the large, vaulted upper level of the building where passengers board planes via a new jet bridge.
The original terminal was built in 1969 and expanded in the late 1980s. The opening of the remodeled airport marked the completion of Phase I in the more than $50 million project. Most of the project is funded by the federal government. At the ceremony Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said the new terminal will offer "a lot better traffic flow, a lot better flow of people through, flow of fish boxes through here at six, seven in the morning – we’ve all seen that."
Sea Mart Sale
After 75 years in the grocery business, the Hames family announced in April that they were selling Sea Mart and other businesses. In November, Roger and Mary Hames told the community they had selected a buyer, the national grocery store chain Albertson’s/Safeway.
The sale includes not only Sea Mart, but Market Center, Watson Point Liquors, Cascade Convenience Center and Newtown Liquor in Ketchikan. The new owners don't plan to change the names, at least initially. The family matriarch, Barbara Rands Hames, participated in the decision on the sale a few months before she passed away on July 3.
“It’s emotional; it’s been a process, and we’re at peace with the decision we’ve made, and we’re anxious to get it done,” Company manager Roger Hames told the Sentinel in November. “It’s been five generations who’ve worked there ...” At year’s end, Roger told the Sentinel the closing date of the sale has been delayed but should still happen in the first quarter of 2026.
SEARHC
SEARHC continued working on a $250 million expansion underway at its Japonski Island complex. “This hospital will almost double the existing square footage of the hospital from where we are now," SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center Administrator Bill Spivey said in March of the 234,528-square-foot facility, expected to be completed next summer.
Frustration and pain rose to the surface of SEARHC’s annual “listening session” with the Sitka Community Health Council on April 7, as people aired complaints on navigating the SEARHC medical system, told stories of medical care gone wrong, and lodged protests against the SEARHC reorganization of home health care for elders. Matt Carle, SEARHC spokesman, commented at year’s end, that he felt such opportunities are important and productive. “Any time you have a chance to hear from community members and patients, it gives a chance to improve,” he said. SEARHC has renovated its Long Term Care facility, which it continues to run in the old Sitka Community Hospital building.
The SEARHC patient health benefits office has been fielding queries from people navigating the process of signing up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, which opened on November 1 for 2026 coverage. Since the U.S. Senate failed to reach a compromise to extend Covid-era health insurance subsidies, which end today, some 30 million Americans, including 30,000 in Alaska, should expect major increases in health care costs.
Housing
Finding and affording housing remained a challenge for many, but progress was made on that front with housing built by the Sitka Community Land Trust on Halibut Point Road, and by Baranof Island Housing Authority’s addition of two four-plexes in the Indian River neighborhood. Later in the year, the Planning Commission approved a preliminary plat for a 47-lot subdivision up Indian River valley, for new home construction. The city completed Phase I of its study of the most suitable city lands to develop for new housing construction. Lands near Sitka High and Blatchley, and on the Harbor Mountain bypass came in near the top of the list.
Child Care
The first year of the Career Pathways in early childhood education at Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka High proved to be a success, with more than 28 students completing a year of dual enrollment classes. The program took aim at one of the challenges of child care: the shortage of trained workers. The school district added a new pre-K program, but infant and toddler care remain a critical challenge. The Early Childhood Coalition is working with Assembly members Thor Christianson and Kevin Mosher to identify a city funding stream for early childhood education. “We’re hoping to find solutions in 2026,” ECC member Lauren Wild said at year’s end.
Fisheries
A September economic report showed the seafood industry continues to be a key economic sector for Southeast Alaska. Sitka is a stronghold for fishermen and processors in the salmon, groundfish and shellfish business. In 2024, the latest year data was available, the industry posted 900 jobs and $64 million in regionwide earnings.
The Alaska Board of Fisheries met in Ketchikan, Jan. 28-Feb. 9 to rule on regulations for Southeast finfish and shellfish fisheries. After hearing 32 proposals dealing with state rules for chinook salmon harvest, the board changed the Southeast Alaska King Salmon Management Plan to increase the sport allocation for king salmon, changed how the sport fishery is managed in-season, and reduced the historic chinook allocation for the commercial, hook-and-line troll fishery.
In April, ADF&G announced an overall chinook allocation of 130,800 treaty chinook for all gear groups, down almost 40% from 2024. Salmon trollers enjoyed good returns and prices for their coho harvests this summer, and ADF&G piloted non-competitive chinook fishery openings in August. The Southeast seine fishery harvested just under 20 million pink salmon – well below the forecast of 29 million fish and marking seiners’ lowest odd-year harvest since the 1980s. One commercial dive fisherman started up a small oyster farm in Krestof Sound this summer.
Subsistence fishermen rejoiced in a record sockeye salmon return at Redoubt Falls, where 229,000 sockeye were counted passing the Redoubt Lake weir from mid-June to late July. STA made strides in research, technology and weir technician training to prepare for uncertainties at Redoubt.
Nonprofit Wins/Losses
As they do most years, the activities of Sitka’s more than 130 nonprofits made the front and features pages of the Sentinel. Several nonprofit organizations saw federal or state funding cuts, and relied on local fundraising and granting organizations to continue providing services.
Sitka Trail Works raised over $100,000 to hire Forest Service seasonal cabin and crew workers who were fired by the Department of Government Efficiency in February. Over a weekend in April, Sitka’s nine Americorps volunteers learned they must leave their jobs by the end of the day on Monday. Some were offered jobs by the nonprofits they served, so they could stay in Sitka. (After a successful lawsuit by Americorps, the program was back in the fall.) Sitka’s community radio station KCAW lost $178,000 in federal funds that had been appropriated but successful local fundraising closed the gap.
Uncertainty peaked amidst the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1. About 7% of Sitka’s workforce is employed by federal agencies; many of those workers faced furloughs without pay, or missed paychecks while remaining on the job. Agencies such as the Forest Service and National Park Service were closed due to staffing reductions.
As about 316 Sitkans faced the loss of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, STA and several nonprofits including Sitkans Against Family Violence and Sitka Conservation Society held food drives and fundraisers to help families affected by the government shutdown that ended Nov. 12 and marked the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The former SJ campus was lively throughout the year, with the Sitka Fine Arts Camp’s eight weeks of camps and a production of the “The SpongeBob Musical”; Sitka Sound Science Center hosting summer camps, visiting scientists for schools, WhaleFest and other year-round education programs; Sitka Music Festival-sponsored classical and jazz events; and Outer Coast posting its highest enrollment this fall. Youth Advocates of Sitka in December opened its new home on Halibut Point Road.
Arrivals and Departures
Local organizations and institutions saw a number of resignations, retirements and departures, along with new hires in some key positions. UAS campus director Paul Kraft retired, and was replaced by Dr. Jeremy Rupp; MEHS superintendent Suzzuk Huntington stepped down and David Langford was hired to oversee operations at the state-owned boarding school; City Administrator John Leach announced he would retire in 2026, and the search for his replacement was under way at year’s end; Lisa Gassman stepped down as chief executive officer of STA. Longtime harbor master Stan Eliason retired, and Brandon Calhoun was named as his replacement. Fire Chief Craig Warren said he will retire April 30, 2026. A candidate for police chief, Michael Hall, was announced to replace Robert Baty, who retired as police chief June 30. Retired Trooper Chad Goeden has been the interim chief, and during the past year the department has brought on a new animal control officer, April Wheldon.
Response Community
Sitka’s emergency response community, including fire hall staff and volunteers, police, troopers, U.S. Coast Guard personnel, and Good Samaritans kept pace with the thousands of requests for help this year. The fire hall alone responded to 1,539 requests by year’s end. First responders led searches after two fatal boating accidents. In the first, a woman died after a skiff accident six miles south of town on July 20. In the other, search and rescue crews spent days looking for two missing men, who were last seen on leaving Back Beach by skiff on Dec. 13. Family and friends are now raising funds to help continue search and recovery efforts.
Here is a month by month review of Sitka news in 2025.
January
Construction of the new Sitka haulout and boatyard begins.
Sitka celebrates the 100th birthday of longtime resident Dorothy "Brownie" Thomsen.
Chamber of Commerce told the city it would not seek a new contract for visitor services, and at the end of the year the Assembly was negotiating with Element Agency on the contract the Chamber has had the past 10 years.
Sitka Fine Arts Camp had a record number of signups for a year of activities, classes , and theater programs on the historic SJ campus and at the Sitka Performing Arts Center.
February
Katlian Collective brought Portugal. The Man, Ya Tseen and Samantha Crain to Sitka for the Kiks.ádi Point House benefit concert on Feb. 1
Sitka High teacher Stacy Golden won the national Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
The Chamber of Commerce presented the Cossack Cap award to Hal Spackman, director of the Sitka Historical Society and Museum. The Chamber named Cpt. Gary’s Sitka Adventures Business of the Year; Medicine by Movement Wellness and PT received the New Business of the Year Award; and Homeless Coalition members were named Community Heroes.
March
After last year’s lengthy internet outage, Sitka was better able to find solutions to communications needs during a planned four-day outage in March.
Herring spawn appeared around March 25 – Sitka Sound welcomed a big return but few boats participating in the commercial sac roe fishery. Organized Village of Kake personnel traveled to Sitka to harvest herring eggs, and conduct research into transplanting herring eggs; researchers with the Alaska Whale Foundation studied gray whales entering Sitka Sound to eat herring eggs.
Sitka High drama, debate and forensics team won multiple team titles for its ninth year in a row at state championships in Anchorage.
April
Sitka hosted the Alaska Association of Student Government conference in April.
Sitka High won the state mock trial championships for the fourth consecutive year. No team has been formed for 2026.
Sitka settled a lawsuit by a former police officer with a payment of $320,000. It was at least the sixth lawsuit filed against the city or the Sitka Police Department by plaintiffs represented by the Northern Justice Project of Anchorage.
April Weldon was hired as the city animal control officer. “Everything's going in the right direction," Wheldon said shortly after she took the job.
May
Katlian Collective finalized its purchase of Kaxátjaa Hít, the Shattering Herring House of the Kiks.ádi clan house at 203 Kaagwaantaan Street that had been slated for demolition.
Hundreds of guests gathered for Yaaw Koo.éex’ held May 11 by Herring Protectors and the Kiks.ádi clan.
State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot (I) of Sitka sponsored legislation that passed both houses, removing barriers to recruiting teachers from out of state; providing incentives for teachers to gain national board certification; and increasing the number of days that retired teachers can serve as subs.
June
Nine-year-old Caleb Gray won the 70th Sitka Sportsman’s Association Salmon Derby with a 34-pound king salmon he caught the first weekend of the derby.
300 Sitkans gathered at the roundabout on June 13 for the nationwide “No Kings” protest of actions by President Donald Trump and his administration. Sitkans for Peace and Democracy led demonstrations at noon each Saturday to advocate for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, for universal health care, constitutional rule, fair taxation and other ideals. Other viewpoints were also expressed at the Roundabout throughout the year.
Sitka Trail Works, a local nonprofit with years of experience marshaling volunteers for outdoors improvements, received the U.S. Forest Service Volunteer Program Leadership Award, for its work on the Tongass National Forest.
In addition to four sold-out summer camps, SFAC hosted a successful Raise the Roof fundraiser at its annual Jazz on the Waterfront concert June 28, raising enough money to replace the Allen Hall/Odess Theater roof. Later in the summer, one of the historic SJ campus buildings, North Pacific Hall, received a “Save America’s Treasures,” renovation grant of $750,000. At year’s end, the camp received another $750,000, this time from Rasmuson Foundation.
July
Sitka Historical Society organized an Old-Time Fourth of July celebration.
Three canoeists escaped serious injury when a passing boater struck and destroyed their canoe in front of town in early July.
A tsunami watch was issued for Sitka following a magnitude 8.7 earthquake off the coast of Kamchatka, Russia, on July 29. The coastal Alaska tsunami watch was cancelled soon afterward.
August
Sen. Bert Stedman (R-Sitka) and Rep. Rebecca Himschoot (I) hailed the Legislature's override of the governor’s veto of education funding on August 2. It was the first time since 1987 that a budget veto by an Alaskan governor was overridden. “It took all 45, so there’s no margin on the end of this,” said Stedman.
Sitka High welcomed its largest class of freshman in 15 years with 92 enrolled at the start of the school year.
On August 24, a Coast Guard Air Station Sitka helicopter rescued a pilot after his single-engine plane went down near Haines. The pilot was unharmed.
September
A state administrative judge upheld the Planning Commission's denial of a height variance for Tidal Network to install a 120-foot telecommunications tower in a Nancy Court neighborhood in which there was a zoning code height limit of 35 feet for such structures. Tidal Network is a program of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska looking to build several cell towers in Sitka.
Sitka sport fishermen hooked dozens of albacore tuna offshore of Cape Edgecumbe, marking what may be the first-ever directed rod and reel albacore harvest out of Sitka. Successful fishermen shared their catch with friends and family, while charter fishing guides offered tuna trips to their clients.
More than 100 Sitkans attended a three-hour forum with state leaders at Centennial Hall on Sept. 15 regarding Rep. Himschoot’s idea of forming a task force to study whether new rules are needed for the region’s "sport fish services" sector.
Hundreds of Southeast Alaska business and government leaders gathered in Sitka Sept. 16-18 for the annual meeting of the Southeast Conference
October
In a crowded field of candidates, Katie Riley and Thor Christianson were elected to the Assembly on October 7. A ballot proposition backed by Sitkans for Community Outdoor Recreation Enhancement expanded the use of the Sitka Community Hospital fund (tobacco tax revenues) to include recreation. Another ballot question, put on the ballot by initiative petition by members of Safeguard Sitka’s Future, failed. It would have required citizen initiative sponsors to fund an economic impact study. Paul Rioux and Courtney Amundson were elected to the Sitka School Board.
ADF&G Area Manager Steve Bethune reported to the Sitka Advisory Committee that deer hunting in the Sitka-area Unit 4 is more efficient than in any other part of Alaska, and the area’s deer population is doing well.
A Sitka delegation went to Nemuro, Japan, to mark the 50th anniversary of Sitka’s sister city relationship with that coastal city, on the island of Hokkaido.
A busy year for theater included Bare Stage Collective's debut, "Smokefall." Young Performers Theater, Sitka Community Theater, Sitka High and SFAC presented a total of nine productions.
November
Tribal citizens of Sitka Tribe of Alaska elected Martha Moses, Gary Puletau-Lang, Rhonda Stiles and Lawrence A. “Woody” Widmark to the STA Tribal Council. This year 147 ballots were cast, down from the 210 in last year’s election of tribal council members.
Five-year-old Arlo Guevin of Sitka won a $25,000 scholarship from a state program designed to encourage savings for college.
St. Michael’s Cathedral hosted the Southeast Deanery of the Diocese of Alaska conference, Nov. 20-23.
December
The Washington state nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy, whose lawsuit threatened the Southeast Alaska salmon troll fishery in 2023, lost its suit but in December the judge ordered the federal government to award Wild Fish Conservative $1.6 million as reimbursement for lawsuit costs.
The Sitka Planning Commission voted 4-0 to deny the Sitka Dock Company's application for a conditional use permit for a public transportation facility at 408 and 410 Oja Way.
Sitka pulled out all the stops for home-grown entertainment during the month, with school concerts, Fireweed Dance Guild’s “The Nutcracker” (1,400 audience), SFAC’s Holiday Brass (600-plus attendees), Sitka Music Festival’s December concerts, Sitka Cirque shows, Jazzmas, Winter Blues Grind, GSAC's Beer Choir and Ramshackle Cabaret’s New Year’s Eve show. Sitka Historical Society expanded its toy train display, parade, cookie and gingerbread event over the year-end holidays. Eager young artists (and their parents) stood poised to ring in the new year by registering for 2026 SFAC camps in the traditional race to sign up, which starts at the stroke of midnight tonight.
• This story originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.
