SEARHC approved for hospital site development in Haines

The Haines Borough Administration Building, March 3, 2025. (Will Steinfeld/Chilkat Valley News)

By Will Steinfeld

Chilkat Valley News

Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) has secured an initial round of borough permitting to construct a “new medical facility with associated multi-unit housing for staff” on Jones Point Road, according to the permit application. The estimated start for site development is April 2026.

This first permit, approved last week, is a site development permit, which allows SEARHC to begin “site clean-up, leveling and grading, and fill work.” 

SEARHC spokesperson Matt Carle initially agreed to an interview about the scope of the project, the timeline, and how the facility might differ from the current clinic in Haines, but then emailed a statement declining to comment. 

The plan for multi-unit staff housing will have to go through a more stringent conditional use permitting process, which will involve another application with more details, and a public hearing. That application has not been submitted yet, borough planner Chen Wu said. 

In addition to clinics across Southeast, SEARHC operates four larger medical centers in Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, and Wrangell. The Wrangell Medical Center was the most recent to open, in 2021, and serves the community closest in population to Haines. 

Services the Wrangell Medical Center provides that the Haines clinic does not include a trauma center and 14 long-term care beds, according to the SEARHC website.

• This story was originally published by the Chilkat Valley News.