The former Vancouver Yacht Club is blocking 65 feet of dock at the Gleason boat ramp, and is impeding access to the boaters' waste station.
Officials with Metro's Parks and Environmental Services department are waiting until they can contact an abandoned barge's owner before they OK its removal and dismantling.
The barge, which once housed the Vancouver Yacht Club, was moored to Metro's M. James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp after it was found adrift in the Columbia River in March. Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard ordered it to be moored there because they said it was a danger to navigation in the Columbia.
(May 4, 2012)
Justin Patterson, director of Metro's Parks and Property Stewardship Program, said the barge still legally belongs to Rick Dulas – and that Metro is trying to get Dulas' permission before dismantling the barge.
Dulas was recently under house arrest in Clark County, Wash., but court officials there couldn't say specifically what charges resulted in the confinement. Authorities in Washington said Dulas had a disorderly conduct charge dating back to 2011, and was arrested on an outstanding warrant on March 28, 2012.
Attempts by Metro News to reach Dulas have been unsuccessful.
Patterson said when parks staff went to Dulas' residence to see if he'd sign over the barge, the house arrest was over and he was gone.
"If for some reason we can't execute that transaction, we would end up doing an abandoned property notice," Patterson said. "If we could get it turned over to us… it would be within days before the contractor could start (removal)."
Fed Devine Diving and Salvage Company won the bid for dismantling the barge, and will be paid $80,000 to tear it down. The barge will be towed to Swan Island for dismantling.
Of the $80,000, nearly two-thirds will come from Oregon's abandoned vessels fund; the other $30,000 will come from Metro's general fund.