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CZM Committee to Hear West End Resort Developer's Requests

Nov. 28, 2006 — Special requests from Botany Bay Partners, developers of a much-debated resort on the island's West End, will be considered Tuesday at a Coastal Zone Management Committee decision meeting.
The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. in the CZM conference room at Cyril E. King Airport, was originally scheduled for Nov. 21 but postponed because of the gubernatorial runoff election.
Members of the public can attend the meeting but will not be allowed to speak, said Jamal Nielsen, media relations coordinator for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. However, the public may submit comments in writing to the CZM division at its airport offices, Nielsen said.
In a July CZM meeting, the committee unanimously approved Botany Bay Partners' two major permit applications, but added 31 special conditions for the project.
The developer is now asking the committee to reconsider 10 of those conditions attached to the permits for the $200 million upscale resort and residential community. The CZM staff has recommended that the committee approve some of these conditions, according to information supplied by Nielsen.
"Several of the conditions required that specific actions-submittals be completed before issuance of the permits," said William McComb, Botany Bay environmental engineer, in a Sept. 8 letter to the CZM committee. As a result, McComb said, the developers need "clarification and reconsideration for several of them."
One of the developer's requests is changing its compliance date from "prior to the issuance of permit" to "prior to the start of construction." Some of the territorial and federal permits cannot be obtained until actual construction documents and bids are received, McComb said.
Other requests include:
— The developers were required to submit an air-quality certificate from the V.I. Department of Environmental Protection certifying the use of air-pollution devices during excavation and other earth-clearing activities that contribute airborne particulate matter to the environment.
The developers want this condition deleted because Leslie Leonard, air pollution control officer, "has informed Mr. McComb that her division does not issue an air-quality certificate, nor is she aware of such a certificate."
— The developers are required to finance the repaving, as needed, of Route 30 from the western portion of Estate Hope to the entrance of its development.
The developers propose, instead, to purchase and equip a medical ambulance to be stored at the West End Multipurpose Center in Estate Fortuna.
— The developers are required to repair immediately any damage to Route 30 caused by construction activities.
The developers concur that any damage to the route would "generally" be caused by its construction activities. They propose, instead, that they repair any damage to the road on a monthly basis. In addition, they say, "If any extensive damage is done to that portion of the road that creates a safety hazard, it will be repaired immediately."
— The developers are required to record all public-easement routes identified in the proposal prior to issuance of the permit.
According to the developers, "only when the road is actual (sic) constructed and approved by DPW can the actual easement be recorded." They request that the condition be revised to read "recorded prior to issuance of any certificate of occupancy."
The 365-acre property has a long history of opposition to development of the island's ecologically and archaeologically sensitive West End. (See "CZM Meeting to Decide Botany Bay Future.")
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