Getting a new lease on life; Federal government to build permanent home for Marine Museum

By Jordan Press

The current lease for the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes will expire at the end of the month, but the museum won't be left without a home.

The federal government has agreed to keep the museum as a tenant on the property and says it will look to build a permanent home for the museum along Ontario Street.

The chairman of the museum said the latest development is a major swing from where things stood 12 months ago when the museum looked like it would lose its home.

"We're going to see a lot of great things happen at that site," said Mark Siemons. "There's a lot of potential on the site for more buildings."

Siemons said the museum can now begin planning for expansion, something that has been explored for more than a decade and had been put on hold during lease negotiations.

"This is an important step," he said. "The Marine Museum has to grow or it will die. When we get that site developed, you won't believe it," Siemons said later. "Once we get something signed, we'll go public with the rest of the plan."

At the council meeting tomorrow, city councillors will be asked to allow the current 30-year lease to die at the end of the month. That will allow the federal government to sign a new lease with the Marine Museum and take it on as a tenant.

The federal government owns the site, but leased it to the city, which in turn leased it to the museum.

The proposed lease is for 10 years, mainly a technicality to allow the museum to access grants. Many grant programs require an organization to show it is financially stable, which includes having a 10-year lease.

However, there has been nothing finalized and there is no deal in writing. Siemons said that wasn't a cause for concern because of the verbal agreements from the federal government to keep the museum at its current home on Ontario Street.

With a more secure future, the museum is now considering future expansion.

Siemons said among the plans would be to drain the dry dock that currently holds the museum's largest artifact, the Alexander Henry ship.

The ship and dry dock would be dry and become more accessible to tours, Siemons said.

A deep water port would be added to allow ships to dock and a new building would be built at the foot of the dry dock, he said.

The museum would still receive operational funding from the city under the new deal.

The federal government will have to find funding to bring the site up to health and safety standards. Work needs to be done on the east and west wharfs, the caisson gates and wall, the limestone dry dock and extension, according to a city hall staff report.

"It is anticipated that large areas of the property will have [to] be fenced off from the public use until a method of stabilization is undertaken," staff write.

Who would fix up the site was the main issue that hampered negotiations. The federal government said it was the city's responsibility, while the city said it was Ottawa's.

"Although we have divergent opinions regarding the covenants in the current lease to upkeep the property ... we can agree that the property now requires rehabilitation," wrote Tim McGrath, an assistant deputy minister with Public Works and Government Services Canada.

His letter, dated Nov. 15 to chief administrative officer Glen Laubenstein, says that his department is trying to secure funding for the repairs.

"We will continue to work toward a long-term solution for this National Historic Site, including a permanent home for the Marine Museum at its existing location, that is in the best interests of the taxpayers of Kingston and the nation," McGrath wrote.

Eventually, Siemons said, Ottawa, city hall and the museum will have to figure out who will own the site when the lease expires. Siemons said it would probably work out better if the city owned the property in the future.

jpress@thewhig.com