Jeannie O'Sullivan
PhillyBurbs.com
Levittown — BURLINGTON CITY - One riverboat has sailed from the city's port, but another may be on the horizon.
The June departure of the Liberty Belle catering boat - which left amid a lawsuit by the city over unpaid rent that the boat's owner says is unfounded - left a gaping hole in the riverfront promenade and in Mayor James Fazzone's plans for the city as a port destination.
But Fazzone said it's not a total loss because the riverfront is now retrofitted to host a future riverboat.
City officials hope that may be the Philadelphia Belle, a four-deck, paddlewheel-style boat that will be christened Thursday at Philadelphia's Penn's Landing. The riverboat, which will offer lunch, brunch, dinner and moonlit cruises along the Delaware River, recently underwent a $2 million renovation and boasts a 1,000-guest capacity and dining space for about 700, according to its website.
"It's twice the size of the Liberty Belle," Fazzone said. "We'd certainly be trading up."
No deal has been brokered between the city and the riverboat's owners, Philadelphia Riverboat LLC, but talks are under way about the possibility of Burlington City becoming a part-time New Jersey port for the vessel.
The Philadelphia Belle's permanent dock is Penn's Landing under a long-term lease agreement with the Delaware River Waterfront Corp., but its owners are seeking other partner ports along the river, according to Tom D'Amato, the Philadelphia Belle's vice president and general manager.
"We met with (Fazzone) and did a site inspection of the old Liberty Belle dock," D'Amato said in an e-mail. "We feel that the docking arrangements are adequate for the Philadelphia Belle to be able to do business from the dock in Burlington City as demand facilitates."
In a phone call this week, Fazzone emphasized that a catering boat could be a premier venue for events such as corporate parties, noting that nearby Mercer County is a hotbed of pharmaceutical companies and colleges such as Princeton and Rider.
"We are a port city. It's one of our biggest commodities," the mayor said. "The more activity we have, the better."
Meanwhile, the city is still actively trying to collect on the total judgment against the Liberty Belle, which is about $33,400, including unpaid rent, licensing fees, interest and court costs, according to City Attorney Andrew Bayer.
Liberty Belle owner Joseph Garvey disagrees with the lawsuit.
"We do not believe we owe that money," Garvey said in a phone call Tuesday.
Garvey contends that while city officials gave him a warm welcome when his boat arrived in 2008, they did not follow through on promises to promote the attraction properly.
"The mayor's intentions are tremendous and the community itself is great," he said. "But they never marketed it like they said they were going to do. Nothing I was promised has come to fruition."
Garvey said he hosted several events for the city at or under cost and has spent about $200,000 in repairs on the boat, which sustained cosmetic damage from bumping up against the steel pier and electric current erosion. He said an inspection indicated the erosion resulted from improper wiring provided by the city.
Garvey hopes the lawsuit can be resolved, but he said he intends to countersue if a settlement isn't reached.
Fazzone said that the city sold tickets for one of the Liberty Belle's initial dinner cruises and that billboards promoting the city included an image of a paddleboat.
"We wanted him to be successful," he said.
Garvey, who is also the boat's executive chef and the owner of Joseph's Grille in Langhorne, Pa., bought the Liberty Belle in 2001 for $1.5 million. After docking it for several years at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, he moved it to Burlington City in 2008 and signed a one-year lease that was extended for another year.
Under the agreement, Garvey was obligated to pay the city $2,000 a month for the right to dock the boat along the promenade. The city furnished the vessel with water, electricity and sewer services, Fazzone said.
Since June, the boat has remained in Baltimore Harbor, where it underwent inspection and repairs. Garvey said the future of the venture is unclear.
"We're looking to restart it or potentially sell it. Every customer we ever had raved," he said.
Fazzone had considered the Liberty Belle a marquee of the city, and earlier this year expressed hope for reconciliation of the matter.
Both Fazzone and Garvey said they were open to the possibility of a partnership in the future.
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