Friends of Keewatin feel time is of the essence and will continue working on keeping the ship in Tay even if the township has deferred approaching the county for help.
The move came after the non-profit group requested the township write to Simcoe County to buy the ship from Skyline and operate it through the Simcoe County Museum as a marine museum in return for a tax receipt through the Cultural Property acquisition program offered by the Canadian government.
The letter was published Wednesday in MidlandToday and brought to the council meeting by Mayor Ted Walker later the same day.
Immediately, council members had questions.
"Where would this boat remain?" asked Deputy Mayor Gerard LaChapelle. "Do they intend to keep it where it is under a different ownership? What would the intent of it be?"
Wayne Coombes, marketing and communications, Friends of Keewatin, told MidlandToday in an interview Thursday that the only practical place for the ship in Simcoe County is at Port McNicoll. He added that the group would like to continue operating it as a museum and offer seasonal tours.
Mayor Ted Walker had questions around property ownership.
"Where it is docked, who owns that area?" he asked, during the meeting. "If we had the county get involved, could they be looking at having a ship and no place to dock it?"
Steve Farquharson, director of planning and development, said Skyline owns the Keewatin.
"We do not own the parkland where the boat is moored," he added. "The existing zoning has permissions in there for marine heritage. The definition added in 2015 for the Keewatin. We have had discussions with the owners of the parkland, (the zoning hold) needs to be lifted and the parkland needs to be dedicated."
Farquharson said there is a shopping list of agreements that need to be done around this project.
"If the county were to take it over, they would have to do the agreements," he said.
Walker then wanted to know who owns the water in which the boat lives.
Lindsay Baron, chief administrative officer, said that a company by the name of CIM owns that water.
Coombes disagrees.
"The water, because the bay is manmade, is currently owned by Skyline," he said. "The surrounding land, that is on a spit, is currently owned by Skyline as well. They thought they had divested themselves of that property, the water, park, beach, to CIM, who defaulted on payments."
Coombes added that to his understanding, Skyline is currently in talks with suitors to the property and believes the matter may be resolved within the next 10 days.
Coun. Mary Warnock also had concerns.
"I want to know what the township's responsibility would be even if the county were to entertain this idea," she said. "If the county takes this on, it does become the responsibility of taxpayers; they pay taxes to the county."
Coun. Barry Norris concurred with the deferral.
"A letter should be sent to (Skyline) to ensure they own the boat," he said. "And asking them if they would consider the sell of the boat to the museum at the county. Then I suggest the letter be sent to the county at that time. I sympathize with the Friends of the Keewatin and what they were told and what reality is: it's night and day."
Blake Lyon, CEO, Skyline Investments, responded to an emailed comment request by MidlandToday and said he had no knowledge of the proposal by the non-profit group.
"Skyline has been working for several years with the Friends of Keewatin to try and find an appropriate way to keep the Keewatin in Port McNicoll, however efforts to-date have been unsuccessful," he wrote. "The FOW did not receive Class B designation by Heritage Canada after some very extensive efforts and costs. Skyline is quite open to other suggestions, including (the county route), on ways to recoup its investment in the Keewatin and to find a long-term solution that would ensure its continued enjoyment as a walk-back-in-time tourist attraction, whether in Port McNicoll or another special place."
Walker said he agreed that the township should reach out to Skyline to get their consent around the proposal, adding that a decision around the resolution to approach the county will be made once the municipality has received a response from Skyline.
"I was realistically not expecting that they would hands-down proceed," said Coombes. "I was disappointed that (deferral) was the response. So much has transpired in the Keewatin story that each councillor is carrying their own confused comprehension of what's going on."
As for next steps for Friends of Keewatin, he said, "the volunteer group will continue to communicate with other municipal councillors on county council to ensure all are informed of the urgency of this matter and benefits to the county of acquiring S.S. Keewatin."
