FINALLY: When Not If for If and When
City Manager Barroso clears path for historic vessel after more than a decade on a waiting list.
After more than a decade of debate over historic and working vessels at the Key West waterfront, the schooner When and If is finally set to receive a slip at the city-owned Key West Bight following intervention by City Manager Brian Barroso.
During a Bight Board meeting earlier this week where members seemed to not actually remember what they voted for in December (which was for staff to comeback with options for dockage in March and award it to the vessel,) Port Facilities Director Steve McAlearney came back with a plan to change the historic and working vessel policy instead.
In the wake of the confusing meeting, When and If’s owner Capt. Seth Salzmann said he ran into Barroso outside, who told Salzmann he didn’t understand what the problem was and why the issue wasn’t being resolved the way the board had directed in December.
That conversation was followed by a meeting with McAlearney on Thursday, where Salzmann was offered and accepted a slip on the end of E-dock, effective April 5.
Although that location is somewhat removed from the historic schooner section — it is far closer than Stock Island where the vessel has been docking for years. That arrangement could change, however, following the completion of renovations to docks and infrastructure at the marina.
“I am grateful to the board and I am looking forward to putting this long term issue behind me,” Salzmann said Friday. “I will hold off on popping the champagne until the dock lines are secure in the Key West Bight.”
With the the berth now scheduled to be assigned April 5, the vessel is expected to become a visible part of the Bight’s maritime landscape, reinforcing the historic character that city leaders have long said the harbor was created to preserve.
The decision ends a long-running dispute that intensified in recent months and raised broader questions about how the city prioritizes historic and working vessels within the harbor.
The 63-foot wooden schooner was built in 1939 for legendary World War II Gen. George S. Patton, an avid sailor. Salzmann said he and the vessel spent more than 11 years on the Key West Bight waiting list before finally being awarded the long-sought spot on Thursday.
The issue reached a flashpoint in December when the Key West Bight Board delayed awarding the berth while revisiting historic vessel policy at the harbor. During that meeting, more than two dozen Bight captains, local sailors and maritime advocates spoke in support of the schooner receiving the slip, arguing the vessel represents the type of traditional sailing vessels the harbor was created to preserve.
For many longtime observers of the waterfront, the dispute became the latest chapter in a debate stretching back more than a decade over how the city balances commercial dockage needs with preserving traditional sailing and working vessels at the harbor.
What used to be schooners, shrimp boats and commercial fishermen has now been transformed into schooners, a single shrimp boat (The Miss Key West) and a fleet wing of parasail, snorkeling cats and party barges.
The issue also drew sustained attention from Above the Fold, which reported on the dispute over the past six months as harbor officials reconsidered the historic vessel policy and dragged their feet on the schooner’s long-pending application.