Providence Health and Services is seeking approval to build a new center for victims of child abuse on undeveloped property it owns in Midtown Anchorage.
Providence wants to relocate its Alaska Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Services — Alaska CARES — from leased space near the Alaska Native Medical Center. And it's asking the Army Corps of Engineers for approval to fill 2.4 acres of wetlands on the site of its proposed new building and parking lot, off 48th Avenue near a strip of hotels along C Street.
Alaska CARES works with victims of child sexual and physical abuse and houses law enforcement, victim advocates, mental health workers and other services all "under one roof," according to a conditional use permit application that Providence filed with Anchorage municipal planners.
The Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the conditional use permit earlier last month, following endorsements from two different community councils.