In a letter dated Oct. 19, Planning Commissioner Robert Mathes wrote to Licensing Commissioner Wayne Biggs to request that the business license for Grande Bay Resort condominiums in Cruz Bay be revoked because the property isn’t zoned for a hotel.
“It appears that the license was issued in error,” Mathes wrote.
According to paperwork from Planning, the property is zoned R-4, residential medium density. Planning spokesman Jamal Nielsen said Tuesday that a property to house a hotel must be zoned R-3, another residential medium-density designation.
Mathes said Tuesday that he signed the letter at the request of Planning’s staff and referred further questions to Marjorie Emanuel, who serves as the director of Planning’s Comprehensive and Coastal Zone Division.
Emanuel said that the property’s owner, Bay Isles Associates, “always maintained” that it did not intend to run a hotel.
While Bay Isles may have maintained that is wasn’t going to operate as a hotel, internet travel forums indicate travelers were booking units as early as the summer of 2009.
On Tuesday, Grande Bay’s website listed resort and hotel specials that included an introductory special of 25 percent off the room rate and a promotion to stay three nights and get the fourth free.
Bay Isles’ business license was issued Sept. 20. Mathes wrote in his Oct. 19 letter that the department became aware on Oct. 15 that Grande Bay did not have the proper zoning.
Emanuel said that Bay Isles will have to apply for a rezoning in order to operate the hotel.
Additionally, Emanuel said that Bay Isles’ attorney, Robert Messick, was advised that the property was improperly zoned at a Board of Land Use Appeals hearing Monday on an appeal to overturn Grande Bay’s temporary occupancy permit. That appeal is still pending.
Attempts to get information from the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department were unsuccessful. A morning phone call to spokesman Shayla Solomon was referred to Licensing Director Knolah Nicholls-Thomas. She said she had no information about a revocation and referred further questions to the commissioner.
Two subsequent calls to Solomon were not returned. Commissioner Wayne Biggs is out on leave. The operator suggested a call to the department’s attorney, Frederick Norford, who said that while he was aware of the matter he hadn’t seen the letter and couldn’t comment.
Grande Bay manager Paul Helson said he was not aware of any pending revocation of the resort’s license.
To further complicate the matter, there are various addresses in the paperwork supplied by Planning. Mathes cited a non-existent address as one of the reasons to request revocation of the business license.
The letter from Mathes lists 86-3 Cruz Bay, St. John as the address for Bay Isles. The business license application lists 86 Bay Street, St. John, although St. John does not use street addresses. The business license renewal form lists 86 Bat St., which appears to be typographical error. The Planning and Natural Resources comments and signature page for business license applications list Parcel No. 86 Back St., St. Thomas, which Emanuel said is how the person typing the paper interpreted the address.
Grande Bay was mired in controversy throughout much of is construction. The last time issues surrounding the project came to light was in late 2009 when Bay Isles got a rezoning from W-I, waterfront, to R-4 so it could build six residential units three stories high in a building that was originally intended to include a restaurant. The W-1 zoning allows for a two-family building. Many residents spoke out against the rezoning.
At the time of the rezoning, Bay Isles had already constructed 48 units on its adjacent property zoned R-4. That part of the project was controversial because it blocked neighbors’ views.
