POULSBO — Another chapter has emerged in the ongoing tale of the boathouse anchored in Liberty Bay.

John Zetty had 30 days to remove his boathouse after he anchored it in the bay, after the Port of Poulsbo evicted him from the marina for repeated late payment of moorage fees. That deadline passed on Nov. 29.

“I was supposed to have it moved [from the bay] Saturday, but we had a storm then,” Zetty said Dec. 1. “Every time it seems like this thing is resolved, I turn around and it’s not.”

The state’s Department of Natural Resources will now proceed with plans to remove the boathouse from the bay, but if Zetty can manage it, he would like to sell it before that happens. Zetty’s wooden Owens boat is moored inside the boathouse.

Zetty said he is in the midst of negotiations between a couple of parties that could purchase the boathouse — one being the Port of Poulsbo, which evicted him.

“We got people who want to buy the boathouse,” Zetty said.

According to Zetty, the port is willing to buy the boathouse back, as long as he is not involved with the structure anymore.

Zetty said he would like to make a deal that pays for the attorney’s fees from his past legal battles with the port, with a contingency that will allow him to moor his wooden Owens boat in the boathouse at the port to repair and sell it. Zetty said he would like to get $23,000 for the boathouse, which would almost cover his legal costs.

“I’m basically giving it up,” he said.

According to the port, Zetty’s account is not accurate.

“There was an effort by a current tenant to purchase the boathouse with the port’s authority,” Port Manager Brad Miller said.

But Miller said he recently checked with the interested tenant and was told that the sale was not going to happen.

The port’s stance on the matter is that it would allow the boathouse back in, but only if a current tenant purchased it. “This would not work for someone who is not a current tenant, because we have a wait list,” Miller said.

The port has no interest in buying the boathouse. “We crossed that bridge a long time ago. We tried to buy that boathouse from him over the last year or so and he was not interested,” Miller said. “We are beyond that.” Disagreement over price prevented the port from purchasing the boathouse, he said.

If a tenant could make the sale work, Miller said it would be beneficial for the port.

“It would save the port a bunch of money because then we wouldn’t have to buy a new boathouse,” he said. “Because that is our intention, to replace the boathouse.”

Poulsbo Port Commissioner Mark DeSalvo said the port would like to get a boathouse in Zetty’s former slip so it can maintain what is allowed in the local Shoreline Master Program.

“We as a port are under a time constraint to have a boathouse back in the slip, or under the current SMP, we will lose the use of that slip for a boathouse,” DeSalvo said. “As of yet, we have only started to look at bids and what that would cost to build one.”

The port placed conditions on the sale to the tenant, in the event it happened. The new owner would have to show proof of ownership and agree to whatever new policies the port is working on for boathouses, and the port would get first right-of-refusal should the boathouse go up for sale in the future.

Zetty said he has another interested buyer to take on the boathouse, but this potential buyer is not a current port tenant.

Zetty and other interested parties may not get to act on their plans. The state Department of Natural Resources’ Nov. 29 deadline has come and gone. Now, the department has engaged a bid process for companies to remove and destroy the structure.

The department is advertising the job through Dec. 5. The following week, it will consider the bids and hire the best deal. “They go to work as soon as they can mobilize,” department spokesman Joe Smillie said. The boathouse could therefore be gone in at least two weeks.

Zetty could remove the structure within that time, however.

“If he was to get it out of there, and he has someplace to take it, that’s great,” Smillie said. “It will save everybody a lot of time and work, but we have to proceed as if we are going to take it away.”

If the department hires a company to do the job, it would initially be paid for with department funds. A bill would be forwarded to Zetty to recoup the cost, however. That could lead to yet another legal battle for Zetty.

“If he doesn’t pay, often times we take them to court,” Smillie said.