Plans to dock a riverboat in downtown Anoka this spring have run into a snag.
The boat owner, SkipperLiner Industries of La Crosse, Wis., had hoped to moor a paddle wheeler at the City Hall docks by May for sightseeing cruises on the Rum and Mississippi rivers.
But after negotiating a lease with the city, the company discovered it needs approval to operate from the U.S. Coast Guard. City Manager Tim Cruikshank said the Coast Guard requires SkipperLiner to show it can navigate the Rum.
SkipperLiner sales president Dan Nelson said Wednesday he also wants to check the Mississippi River depth as soon as the Coon Rapids Dam raises the upstream pool to summer levels. He said he hopes to do that in May.
Cruikshank said it could take until mid-summer or later for Nelson to get approved and ready for public cruises. He said Nelson may also have to check with the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
Nelson said a Coast Guard official looked at the Rum a few weeks ago and wasn't convinced his 80-foot riverboat, which drafts 3.5 feet, can operate there. He said the Coast Guard will be back for another look when the raised pool on the Mississippi pushes more water up the Rum to the dam by City Hall.
If the two rivers are deep enough, Nelson said, SkipperLiner will truck its $1.6 million paddle boat from La Crosse and dock it at City Hall. Then the Coast Guard will inspect the year-old boat for safety, observe a man-overboard drill, give the crew a drug test and, Nelson hopes, approve the vessel as safe for passengers.
SkipperLiner and the city took preliminary depth readings at low fall levels after the city paid $160,000 to dredge the Rum four feet deep from City Hall 700 feet downstream in November.
"I think it will be fine," said City Attorney Scott Baumgartner. "It's a safety issue. They want make sure the operator is capable of doing it."
Meanwhile, SkipperLiner has postponed signing the lease agreement with the city until everything is go.
"It's too risky to make a mistake and get up there and not have water," Nelson said. "As long as we can prove the area is safe for boating, they will allow us to carry passengers for hire. They want to make sure the route we are taking is safe."
Nelson expects the riverboat, which has a restaurant and bar, will cruise down the Rum to the Mississippi and down river a few miles to the Coon Rapids dam.
"We want to make this happen," Nelson said. "We are excited about the Anoka market."
Under the proposed lease, if the river runs too shallow for the riverboat, it would relocate to city docks at Peninsula Point Two Rivers Park. The park sits at the confluence of the Rum and the Mississippi rivers, next to the Anoka-Champlin bridge.
Jim Adams • 612-673-7658
