For decades, locals and tourists driving along Riverside Avenue into Hoquiam could glance across the Hoquiam River at the west bank and see an old wooden boat nestled among the pilings.

It fell into the eye of the beholder category. Some saw it as a floating (or once floating) blight on the shoreline, while others saw a quaint and rustic relic of the past.

Now the boat is gone. This past Monday morning, a private contractor disassembled the vessel and took it to a landfill to be discarded, after Hoquiam Mayor Jasmine Dickhoff sent an order to property owner Tony Cemelich that the boat was a public nuisance and needed to be taken away. She sent the order last December, which states that city officials inspected the boat and property in May 2016 to officially determine it qualified as a public nuisance. Dickhoff said the boat has been debated by citizens and staff for the 23 years it has been there, but that she wants to be consistent with the city’s policy.

“There had been verbal contact with the owner and his family with no action taken so a nuisance order was sent and they decided to have it removed,” said Dickhoff. “I think it’s important to be consistent. We, as a community, ask that people don’t abandon vehicles, that they keep their lawns in compliance and that they take down their old business signs. So it should be true that we do not allow an abandoned, rotting boat to lay moored in the mud for every tourist and citizen to pass by.”

Cemelich, a former Hoquiam firefighter, is well known in the community and for years ran a small log salvaging operation, scouring the bay for sellable logs. Now in his mid-90s, he lived in the area up until two years ago.

He owns the riverfront property where the boat rested, but the boat wasn’t actually his. In 1995, Cemelich gave a friend permission to moor his fishing boat on the property, and it hadn’t moved since then, according to his daughter Marianne Bowers. After receiving the request from the city, Cemelich and his family paid for the Quigg Brothers company to come and take the boat away.

Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay said he recalls talking to Cemelich a decade ago, asking him to get rid of the boat.

“I remember talking with him a decade ago, saying ‘Hey, Tony you need to get rid of that boat,’” said Shay. “And he said, ‘Well, I could fire it up this weekend, and it’ll be gone within a week!’ And here it is a decade later still sitting there. I know Tony loved that boat.”

Shay said that at some point the boat developed a large hole in the bottom.

When considering the public’s thoughts on the boat and its appearance, Dickhoff said that there has been a mix of people who find it nostalgic, while others find it to be a bad symbol for Hoquiam.

“Lots of people have a deep sense of nostalgia about the boat. They felt it wasn’t hurting anything for it to be there. Some felt it added to the waterfront,” said Dickhoff. “Others are very grateful that it’s gone. They feel as though it will provide a much less dreary portrayal of Hoquiam. Almost metaphorical. We are no longer ‘stuck in the mud.’”

As compensation for taking away what some may have enjoyed as a scenic landmark, Dickhoff said they are looking at potential artistic works to put in the boat’s place.

“Some have expressed an interest in some art being put in its place and that, I think, would be a sufficient compromise,” she said. “I am currently working with some people to get something like that done through donations.”