WEST POINT
The potential sale of the West Point Lighthouse to a private buyer is only in the discussion stages, insists the president of the West Point Development Corporation.
“We’re just seeing where the path is going to take us,” Harvey Stewart commented.
Stewart said there has been no sale completed. “It’s just an open conversation, it’s all it is.
Anytime somebody wants to do something, you shouldn’t say, ‘no.’”
The West Point Development Corporation’s board of directors has been in conversation with the potential buyer, Zach Stewart, throughout the winter.
“It’s just an open conversation that’s started,” the president said, “and we said, ‘we’re not going to do anything on this until we talk to the membership.’”
They informed members of the corporation of the discussion earlier this month and won permission to continue the discussion.
The development corporation was formed in 1982 and once had a membership of 90. Stewart said there are now only about half that many members.
The potential sale has drawn sharp criticism from a longtime supporter and promoter of the lighthouse, Carol Livingstone, and has also resulted in the creation of a Friends and protectors of West Point Lighthouse P.E.I. Facebook group.
Livingstone is particularly concerned about what happens to the lighthouse’s large collection of lighthouse artifacts if the structure sells.
Those artifacts are everybody’s concern, Stewart said and added they are not part of the sales discussion.
Whether a sale goes through or not, Stewart said the lighthouse would operate as normal this year. “Right today it’s operating with the Development Corporation,” Stewart noted.
