City officials are close to wrapping negotiations with the contractor set to run the city’s new marine haulout, allowing Sitka’s fishing fleet to haul boats and make repairs locally for the first time in several years.
Highmark Marine will operate the city-owned facility at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park. The Kodiak-based marine fabricator has been negotiating contract terms with the city for several months. As a result of those negotiations, in June, the assembly approved another wave of funding for the project– just over $700,000 dollars to pay for upgrades like a heated washdown pad and a mechanism to provide power to boats in the yard.
At the Thursday (7-17-25) meeting of the GPIP board, Director Garry White said that extra investment has meant the price to haul boats will decrease.
“The result of that is that our fees are going to be dropped around $3 a foot across the board,” White said.
White said he expected the final contract with Highmark will be reviewed by the assembly some time in August. Board member Lauren Howard asked White if that’s when boats could be hauled for repairs.
“I was telling people beginning of September, because, yeah, I think September is probably going to be a closer date, giving those guys about a month to be able to [mobilize] here,” White said.
The city has been working toward building a marine haulout for several years, following the closure of the only privately owned boat yard that served much of Sitka’s fleet. In 2022, voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative to use over $8 million from the sale of the former Sitka Community Hospital building for the first phase of construction.
