The state of the Skippy L rests in the hands of who officially owns it, which has now come into question. With the derelict state of the designated heritage site being beyond repair, the Town of The Pas and Heritage Society must first find the owner before the de-designation process can begin.
“Right now, the town is stilling trying to determine ownership of the Skippy L,” said Town of The Pas Assistant CAO Jenn Early. “I’m working with the Heritage Society, but they don’t seem to have any information either. We have no proof that the Town of The Pas owns the Skippy L or anything proving that it was the town that designated it a heritage item.” A relative of Tom Lamb expressed some interest early on, but that has since been abandoned. “In October of 2023, The Heritage Society ad vised that the great-grand son of Tom Lamb, Fraser Fisher, reached out to them and he was inquiring about restoring the boat,” said Early. “The Heritage society put him in touch with me. I received one e mail from him and pro vided him with the status of the boat and the Condition Assessment report the town had done on the Skippy L. I never heard back from him. I have sent him three more e mails since then with no reply. “It is necessary to find relatives of the original owner as the Heritage Society is requesting this be fore they will de-designate the heritage status. With out the de-designation the town cannot legally demolish the boat, as we cannot prove we are the owners of it. “The Skippy L is be yond repair,” said Early. “If the owner would have used the designation status before it got in this state, there would have been funding through the heritage society to fix it up. Unfortunately, we don’t know who the owner is and can’t get this process going”. The current condition of the Skippy L poses some concerns in terms of safety for the community. It has been boarded up to prevent people from entering in. “With the state the Skippy L is in right now, it is a huge liability,” said Early. “I’m still working with the Heritage Society, and they are now looking at what the next step will be in order for the town to de-designate it and demolish it.” If anyone knows who may be associated or has knowledge of who has ownership of the Skippy L, please contact the town office.