July 10, 2003 – The Board of Land Use Appeals could hold a hearing as early as July 29 on a challenge to the Coastal Zone Management permit for the revitalization of the old Ramada Yacht Haven Hotel and Marina and the development of some seven acres of adjacent filled land fronting Long Bay.
On Wednesday, an executive for Insignia Nautica, the parent company of the project developer, IN-USVI, said that despite the delay, "we are hopeful that ultimately our efforts … will be rewarded with a better waterfront."
"While we are disappointed, dismayed and disheartened by what could be a significant delay to the creation of new jobs, the bringing in of new economic development and the improvement of the waterfront, we are determined to press forward as best we can," Elie Feingold, executive vice president of Insignia Nautica and spokesman for IN-USVI, said.
Also on Wednesday, Edward E. Thomas Sr., president and board chair of The West Indian Co., accused the Save Long Bay Coalition members of timing their appeal in hopes of derailing the whole Yacht Haven project.
"This very important project has been halted by the filing of the appeal, as the SLBC group certainly knew and intended it would be," Thomas said in a release. "The employment of people and the involvement of young community members to beautify the long-derelict hotel property — so recently begun — has already been jeopardized by this ill-considered legal maneuver that has no apparent purpose but to delay the benefits of the development for the Virgin Islands."
His reference to "young community members" was to several youth groups who this week began painting a running mural on the protective barrier wall erected between the Yacht Haven buildings destined to be demolished and Long Bay Road.
Further, Thomas said, "The significant additional employment that was to begin, and the crucial benefits to the economy and to the government, have also been abruptly stopped by this single action."
The Save Long Bay Coalition filed its appeal of the CZM permit on Monday, asking the land use board to separate the permit for the hotel redevelopment from the portion covering the filled land. The coalition contends that while the private land project required only CZM committee approval, the filled land, owned by WICO, is held in public trust, and thus a permit for its use requires approval by the Legislature and the governor as well as the CZM committee. The overall permit was approved only by the CZM committee.
The coalition wants the board to order that a separate permit be sought for the filled land, while allowing the hotel and marina redevelopment to proceed, and to require hearings on the application and approval by the Legislature and governor as well as the CZM committee. And it is asking that if the application is approved, that the permit be for no more than 20 years.
Attorney Judith Bourne, who filed the appeal, said in a statement issued earlier this week that the appeal is needed to "allow a suitable evaluation to be made of the commercial development, which was only added to the plan in December of 2002."
IN-USVI is planning to build retail and office facilities on the filled land.
The coalition was formed in 1986 to fight the dredging of the St. Thomas harbor which produced the very filled land that is now the subject of debate.
Insignia Nautica officials say they researched the legal issues extensively before entering into an agreement to lease the land from WICO for up to 90 years. They cite a 1989 ruling from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, in a case relating to the dredging, that the filled land was privately owned, not held in public trust. WICO at that time also was privately owned, by Danish interests. However, it was purchased by the V.I. government, which currently owns it, in 1993.
Thomas, like Feingold, said the public trust land issue was settled long ago in federal court. The land in question was conveyed to WICO in October 1987, he said, and the coalition's legal challenge impinges on WICO's right as owner to develop or lease the property.
Echoing similar remarks made on Tuesday by Andrew Farkas, chief executive officer of Insignia Nautica, Thomas also said that the Yacht Haven project "cannot proceed piecemeal. The portion of the development to be constructed on WICO's property is a critical part of the entire plan, and IN-USVI has made clear that it cannot proceed on any part of this project without a clear and reliable confirmation of its right to complete the work as a whole."
Feingold said on Wednesday that the appeal came as contractors working with IN-USVI were about to begin demolishing the derelict Yacht Haven Hotel buildings that have been an eyesore since Hurricane Marilyn devastated the property in 1995.
"The Long Bay Coalition filed an appeal for the upland development of the project, the vast majority of which is covered under a single permit. As a result, we are bound by law and unable to continue developments on the project," Feingold said. "By a matter of simple economics, this makes us unable to continue on with the project in any meaningful way until this issue is resolved."
Michael Law, Board of Land Use Appeal legal counsel, said on Thursday that he has spent the last several days calling board members trying to coordinate a date on which they could meet to hear the case. "We are looking at the 29th of July," he said, dependent on "making sure all the board members can attend."
The board, by law consisting of nine members, currently has seven. "I'm still waiting to hear from one member about whether he can attend," Law said.
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