Kelowna

The City of Kelowna now hopes the Fintry Queen will be relocated to Sutherland Bay by the end of the month.

City Property Manager, Ron Forbes, says Andy Schwab is in the process of putting together a court application to purchase and move the Fintry Queen.

Forbes says that application would include a deadline of September 30 to have the vessel moved from its current location at the foot of Queensway to Sutherland Bay.

"We're pretty confident that is going to happen now," says Forbes.

Originally, the city had imposed a July 31 deadline, however, Forbes says that would have meant the city taxpayers would have been responsible for moving and securing the vessel.

"With Andy purchasing the vessel and moving it, it will be done at no cost to the taxpayer," added Forbes.

"That's why we are being a little more lenient in this case because it can save us $15,000 right there."

The Fintry Queen must be moved  in order to accommodate construction of a new pier at the foot of Queensway.

The $3.2M waterfront pier will be built and operated by Westcorp Properties.

Forbes says the process of gaining approvals from provincial and federal agencies is moving along.

If all goes well construction could begin later this year, with an opening date of May, 2013.

With construction not expected to begin until late fall Forbes says the city can afford to allow the process of moving the Fintry Queen play out.

If approvals were already in place there would be more urgency in having the vessel removed.