At the beginning of last month, we told you how the developers of the proposed megamarina in Coral Bay were facing a slew of new challenges that could very well put an end to their proposed marina for good. We were all happy and thought Coral Bay had finally been saved thanks to resident “badass” Mr. David Silverman and his efforts leading the Save Coral Bay movement. Well today Coral Bay faces a potential new challenge as plans for a second Coral Bay marina have just been released. This time it is a project by Sirius Development, LLC, also known as T-REX. Its plan is to create a marina, hotel and resort on the land owned by the Moravian Conference.
The following information has been taken directly from Save Coral Bay. You can follow their efforts and get the latest marina information at www.savecoralbay.com.
Project Overview
The project proposed by Sirius is located on the Coral Bay ball field and on land behind Skinny Legs restaurant, behind the Coral Bay fire house, and behind the Guy Benjamin school. Their stated goal is to build an 89-room hotel and marina complex with associated retail amenities. Since the land on which the hotel is to be located is not zoned for hotel use, the developers have made the unusual decision to file an application for the marina with the Army Corps of Engineers before receiving any local authorizations. Although perfectly legal, this route is very unusual.
The marina is proposed as a 92-slip project, built using precast floating concrete docks. It will require 420 pilings for the fixed main pier and guide piles for the floating sections. In addition to the 92 wet slips (including side-ties), the project proposes a “dry slip” boat garage. To support all of this marine infrastructure in the shallow waters of north Coral Bay Harbor, the developers are requesting permission to dredge approximately one acre of sea bottom to a depth of -6 feet.
The image below is a Google Earth overlay of the in-water marina project. The marina occupies approximately ten acres of the harbor, depending upon where you place the in-water boundaries.
In addition to the in-water marina, Sirius is proposing to construct a 3-storey, 30-position boat garage. In order to create sufficient level land near the water, the project calls for dredging approximately one acre in the “creek”, placing bulkheads seaward of the existing shoreline, backfilling the bulkheads and paving a roughly 1 acre “concrete apron” for the marina buildings. Additionally a parking lot for 60 vehicles will be created. These features are shown in the rendering below.
The project is currently in a Public Comment period with the US Army Corps of Engineers. The comment period extends until January 25, 2016.
Stay tuned for more information on the hotel/resort plans, as well as some concerns raised by the folks at Save Coral Bay.
While perhaps not perfect, I think this is the type of properly scaled marina St John needs. However I hope it includes a pump out facility. The fact we don’t have one is reprehensible and anyone who doesn’t recognize the need given all the live aboards in Coral Bay aren’t interested in saving anything but their own nostalgia for a place in such obvious need for some healthy development (yes, there is such a thing).
Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.
-Ban Ki-moon
Is this sustainable? It sounds far better than the Summers End Group proposal, but my gut tells me this is still not a good idea.
POW! And the hits just keep on coming. WAY too much for Coral Bay. 89 EIGHTY NINE rooms? How about the unspoken plans for future expansion? Where does the septage for 89 rooms go? Ballfield? GONE. Skinny’s? GONE. Same shifty bunch on the perimeter of this as the other one, too. Just waiting to grab what they can.
This is the rich looking for opportunities to get richer. My guess is the Island residents won’t benefit much from this project and Coral Bay will be scarred forever if the project receives approval.
Someone refresh my memory, aren’t the developers a West Indian St. John family and the church?
Are the proposed units truly hotel rooms or condos or a hybrid of some sort? Not that it matters, just curious.
I could believe the marina only isn’t financially feasible, the development and infrastructure costs would be too high. Seems like they are saying “take the good (the marina) with the bad (the hotel).”
Coral Bay is long overdue for a pump out facility and a structure but not at the sacrifice of all we hold dear that makes CB home. I would welcome a well scaled business with West Indian ownership. This plan is better but still too big. I can sadly see it failing due to not enough business then theres another abandoned shell of a mess. Hopefully this plan can be worked with to scale it to the true and reasonable needs of the community.
Really!?!?!?! That’s the whole beauty of St John. That low key feel. If you want another mega marina & hotel go to St Thomas !!! I’ve been going there for years and it seems that commercializum is slowly creeping in. ‘Nuff said.