Kelowna

The Fintry Queen should be at its new location in Sutherland Bay by the end of July.

The iconic vessel, which has been out of service for nearly four years, was scheduled to be moved from its current downtown location in the spring, however, the move was delayed to allow a potential owner a chance to petition the courts.

Photo: Kelly Hayes - Castanet File Photo

City Property Manager, Ron Forbes, says an application by Andy Schwab to take over ownership of the Fintry Queen is expected to be heard within the next few weeks.

"The ideal outcome right now is for this individual to go in front of the courts saying, 'I'm willing to purchase it, here is my purchase price and, as part of that I will work with the city to move it to Sutherland Bay and pay for the storage,'" says Forbes.

"If that happens and it's sold that's fine. If it's not, then we are in the courts the following week to get the move approved."

The city would have to go to court because one of the creditors, Metro Developments Corp., who hold the mortgage on the Fintry Queen, are against moving the vessel to Sutherland Bay.

"They feel it is not going to be a safe location for the Fintry Queen," says Forbes.

"The city's argument is that where it's currently located it has been vandalized a few times."

The city needs to have the Fintry Queen moved from its dock at the foot of Queensway to make way for construction of the new Queensway Marina.

Last year City Council approved the move and use of funds from the Major Facilities Reserve Fund to pay for it.

Forbes says it's his objective to get the vessel moved without dipping into the public purse.

"It's one of those things where we want to make sure we are being good stewards of taxpayers dollars and not spending money we don't have to."

The Fintry Queen is currently under a court ordered seizure and sale.

Debts to be settled, according to a website offering the vessel for sale, total more than $1.7M. These include:

• BC Employment Standards for back wages - $38,739
• Cove Hotel for damage to its dock - $110,812
• Metro Developments Corp. who hold the mortgage - $1.5M
• City of Kelowna for moorage fees - $79,869

Forbes says cost of moving the Fintry Queen would be about $14,000.