The chief federal judge in the Virgin Islands recently rejected a challenge by the Moravian Church in the Virgin Islands to block a developer from building a marina in Coral Bay, St. John. Chief District Judge Robert A. Molloy said that church officials could not prove their claim about the harm that would be caused if developers with the Summers End Group built their project along a portion of the Coral Bay coastline.
Molloy’s March 28 order granted developers a summary judgment, a favorable ruling without going to trial. In doing so, the judge also denied a similar request from the Moravian Church. The matter was dismissed without prejudice and the clerk of the court was ordered to declare the case closed.
The 21-page opinion that preceded the order said the court could not rule in favor of the church because their claim that letting Summers End build their proposed marina would crowd out their plans to build a marina of their own.
For that reason, the judge said the church lacked the legal standing to sue Summers End.
The judge also pointed out that the church did not produce a permit proving their intent to build a marina. Also rejected was a claim that the permit granted in Act 8407 denied the church the right to protect submerged lands to be developed as part of the project; rights they said were part of a public trust granted under the Coastal Zone Management Act.
Molloy called that claim “meritless.”
“Plaintiff argues that “Act 8407, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, and the Consolidated Permit granted thereby are void as a violation of Plaintiff’s due process and equal protection rights, a violation of the prohibition of laws abridging Plaintiff’s right to petition the government for the redress of grievances, a violation of the separation of powers, and a violation of the Public Trust Doctrine and of 48 U.S.C. § 1705(a),” Molloy said.
The high court referred to in the opinion is the Virgin Islands Supreme Court ruling of April 2022 in response to a challenge filed by the community group Save Coral Bay.
Molloy cited Article III of the U.S. Constitution, which lists three criteria that must be met before the federal court intervenes: The complainant must be facing actual or imminent harm, not hypothetical harm; there must be a connection between the harm and actions taken by the accused; and there is a likelihood that the harm will occur.
Since 2014, developers have proposed taking over the mooring field in Coral Bay and replacing it with a 144-slip marina that includes berths to accommodate mega yachts. Over the years, the scope of the project scaled down to 115 slips and 12 moorings, and the elimination of three finger piers for the mega yachts. Opponents have voiced skepticism about what would ultimately be built, and have expressed concerns about the marina’s environmental impact.
