Fintry Queen waiting on parks plan
An iconic Okanagan Lake cruise ship’s fate may have unwittingly become ensnared in a larger debate about commercialization in Penticton parks.
While the 325-passenger Fintry Queen is currently moored at the north end of the lake near Vernon, owner Andy Schwab hopes to bring her south to a yet-to-be-constructed dock on the Penticton waterfront near the Kiwanis Walking Pier.
Once in Penticton, he hopes to run the boat on regularly scheduled cruises to Summerland and Naramata, plus ferry passengers on custom trips to wineries or recreational activities.
“I think Penticton’s great for it. It’s a perfect fit, and it’s going to complement everything else that’s there,” said Schwab.
However, negotiations with the City of Penticton for a lease of foreshore are at a standstill, he said, until the ongoing Parks and Recreation Master Plan process is complete.
One of the main stumbling blocks facing the committee overseeing creation of the plan is the issue of commercialization in parks, including along the city’s waterfront where the Fintry Queen would be docked, leaving the boat in limbo.
“There’s nothing in (the draft plan) that is negative towards us,” Schwab said.
“In fact, it reinforces a lot of what we’re trying to provide — it’s actually positive for us — but nothing’s going to happen until we get to that stage” where the plan is finalized.
Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said the Fintry Queen’s fate could indeed be decided by a new Parks Advisory Board, creation of which is among the recommendations contained in the draft master plan.
“That might be one of the first tests, because anything that goes along our waterfront is more sensitive than some of our inland parks, and because it’s a big ship there would be a fair bit of due diligence with that,” said Jakubeit.
“There would be an opportunity for the new committee to help vet the pros and cons.”
The mayor also cautioned, however, that the city has no deals in place with Schwab, after a tentative agreement reached in 2013 lapsed when the Fintry Queen’s owner failed to meet certain conditions — such as putting up a bond to guarantee completion of a new pier and providing proof of available moorage elsewhere should the operation go belly up.
Schwab is currently awaiting a separate decision from the B.C. government on his application for temporary moorage about 400 metres off Kickininee Provincial Park between Penticton and Summerland. He’s optimistic an answer will come by mid-June.
Once parked off Kickininee, he hopes the Fintry Queen will start attracting enough interest from investors and customers to begin working on the long-term plans required to run the ship between the three communities at the south end of the lake.
Schwab has also had preliminary discussions with local governments in Summerland and Naramata within the past few years.
The 47-metre Fintry Queen began operating on Okanagan Lake in 1948 as a car ferry linking Kelowna with the Westside. It last operated as a cruise ship in 2008, and Schwab purchased the boat out of receivership in 2012.
It was moored in Sutherland Bay off downtown Kelowna for years, before the city went to court in 2016 to force the boat to move.