Diagram from official U.S. Navy Ship Donation manual shows myriad bureaucratic steps that must be surmounted to obtain a ship donation.
USS Edson Promoters Get EPA Approval; But Wait, There's More!
Community Tourism Backers Hope for Spring Arrival of Ship, Visitors Boost
November 27, 2010
By: Dave Rogers
Hope is rising for a spring 2011 arrival of the USS Edson, destroyer museum ship, in Bay City.
The Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum has at long last received approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, clearing the ship from past PCB contamination.
But now the U.S. Navy final stages of approval, including a Congressional OK, must be hurdled before the ship can be towed out of the Philadelphia Navy Yard for the 2,650 mile trip to Bay City.
Even though the Great Lakes are now open for shipping through Jan. 15 through ice breaking, there apparently is little likelihood the 30-day Congressional review and all Navy approvals can be achieved during this season, observers theorized.
The snail's pace of the project has frustrated backers as well as local tourism promoters who expect 80,000 to 100,000 visitors a year to come to Bay City expressly to view the ship.
The 418-foot long destroyer is intended as a tribute to the contributions of the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, a firm that built about 160 ships for the Navy during World War II, as well as a recruiting tool for the Navy and a local tourist attraction and an educational tool for 99,000 school children in the area.
Officials of the Dobson Fire Truck Museum, located only a couple of miles north of the ship site on the Saginaw River, especially are looking forward to the local traffic the ship is expected to generate. The fire truck museum houses about 80 vintage trucks as well as perhaps the world's largest collection of Tonka Toys and miniature vehicles.
Jimmie Dobson and his son, the late Jeffrey Dobson, spent about 50 years compiling the collection, which includes the world's largest fire truck, a massive 1965 pumper acquired from New York City.
And, owners and operators of dozens of tourism-related businesses, including motels, restaurants, shops and stores, are eager for the added traffic as well.
--- Advertisements ---
The project has attracted support from approximately 650 persons and organizations who all have a stake in its success.
It was only in July 2010, after 13 years of work, that the SVNSM was granted ownership of the Edson by the U.S. Navy. For about half that time, the promoters were working to bring the USS Charles F. Adams, a similar destroyer, to Bay City. That idea was scrapped in 2004 when the Edson, a more tourist-ready ship that spent 14 years in New York City, became available.
While the Adams would have required extensive renovations, the Edson has had an expensive hull replacement at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, courtesy of the New York Air-Sea-Space Museum. The hull is projected to last 50 years, according to Navy sources.
The SVNSM recently sold the 11 acre Surath property it had received as a donation from former Bay Cityan Bernard Surath, a staunch supporter of the project. The property was acquired through Gordy Hollister of Hollister Commercial Realtors by Dino Dore, who operates a dumpster business in the area.
If the ship is cleared by the Navy for spring delivery, the project may intersect with an enhanced tourism effort through the Saginaw Valley Tourist and Convention Bureau, headed by Dr. Annette Rummell.
Funding for that agency is expected to be bolstered soon by an accommodation room tax increase from 2 percent to 5 percent in Bay and Midland counties. Michigan Senate Bill 1515, sponsored by Sen. Patricia Birkholz, Saugatuck Republican, provides for the increase. The bill has been reported out of the Commerce and Tourism Committee.###