Hello folks and happy Friday! We’re a tad late to the party on this one, but it looks like the proposed Coral Bay condo/resort complex that we told you about back in January is one steps closer to possibly happening due to a recent zoning change. Here’s the story straight from our friends at St. John Tradewinds, who are a bit more well versed on the subject than we are…
The Virgin Islands Legislature approved a bill on December 20 to rezone a seven-acre property which runs along the waterfront in Coral Bay.
The rezoning clears a legal obstacle that prevented T-Rex, LLC (also known as Sirius) from moving forward in its plan to develop a total of 11 acres leased from the Moravian Church Conference of the Virgin Islands.
Known locally as “the flats” and “the ballfield,” the seven-acre property considered for rezoning has been maintained as open space for centuries and been used by the community for numerous public activities.
This is not the first time the Senate has passed legislation to approve the property’s rezoning. The Senate met in April to hold hearings on the proposal at the Legislature Annex in Cruz Bay and in early October approved the measure 12-2. Only Senator-at-Large Almando “Rocky” Liburd and Senator Myron Jackson voted against it.
But Governor Mapp vetoed the bill, explaining his decision in a letter to the Legislature posted on his website on October 8: “I have vetoed Bill 31-0465 which relates to the zoning designation of parcel Rem, 10-A Estate Emmaus, St. John. The description of the property contained in this bill does not exist nor have any of the recommendations of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources been included.”
Bill 31-0465, which was intended to rectify inconsistencies in the zoning designations, was scrapped. Once the technical issues were resolved, a revised bill, 31-0490, was submitted, and this was the one approved on December 20.
We wrote about this proposed complex back in January. Click here to read all about it.
This is only the first step in a long process. Word is that the condos will not be built without the marina and vice versa. The marina plans include dredging which the Army Corp of Engineers will most likely never approve. Still need to get CZM approval which may not be too difficult considering their past approval history. But getting ACOE approval will be a huge problem.
You can follow progress or lack thereof on savecoralbay.com.
Thanks for the input jay!!
This would be the beginning of the end for St. John! The quiet little island we enjoy has already changed much in the last 10 years…it is slowly turning into just another touristy Caribbean island. So sad to see it slowly losing its charm.
BIG mistake. Please don’t let this ruin the untouched island that we love so much.