May 21, 2001 Three housing bills were passed on to the Senate Rules Committee Monday by the unanimous vote of the seven members of the Committee on Housing, Parks and Recreation.
The first bill, introduced by Norma Pickard-Samuel, would require that people on affordable housing eligibility lists be notified by certified mail within 90 days when units become eligible for sale or rent. Existing law provides for notification but does not specify any time frame.
The second bill would require that all property turned over to the government in lieu of property taxes be given to the Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation to be sold as residential lots at low cost to first-time property owners, providing the land is not suitable for a government complex.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Adelbert Bryan, allows for the property to be subdivided into lots no larger than 7,000 square feet and sold to low- or moderate-income first-time property owners for $10,000 to $15,000.
In testimony before the committee, Ira Hobson, Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner, said the bill needed to specify that the original buyers could not dispose of the lots for 25 years rather than the five in the measure.
"I do not want to put our people in a position where they can easily get rid of the land in five years," Hobson said. "They should be holding the land for their children and their childrens children."
The bill was changed to reflect the 25 years and passed on to Rules.
The third bill would require land developers to pay for installing potable water lines in real estate subdivisions.
Water and Power Authority legal counsel Cathy Smith appeared on behalf of newly appointed WAPA executive director Joseph Thomas to say the authority supported the bill, which seeks to shift the burden of infrastructure development from the homeowner to the land developer.
Under questioning by Samuel, WAPA chief engineer John Christian said the cost of running 1,000 feet of electrical line was $7,000 - also a significant burden to homeowners.
Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood said the bill didn't go far enough. "It does not address road paving, sewer lines or drainage," he said. Public Works "has spent millions of dollars repaving roads the developers have left" behind for the department to deal with, Callwood said.
Bryan, the bill's sponsor, said those issues are dealt with elsewhere in the V.I. code. But Callwood said there were loopholes in the law.
"The Realtors find ways of circumventing the laws because other agencies have relaxed their enforcement," Callwood said.
Bryan promised to look into the loopholes and plug them.
Interspersed in the proceedings were promises by Sens. Celestino White and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen to repeal part of the Omnibus Act of 2001 that would combine the three housing entities, Housing, Parks and Recreation, the Housing Finance Authority and the V.I. Housing Authority, into one entity.
Voting unanimously to pass the bills on were Sens. Emmett Hansen III, Samuel, Lorraine Berry, Hansen, Carlton Dowe, David Jones and committee chairman White.
The meeting was held at the Earle B. Ottley Legislative Chamber on St. Thomas.