Many of the approximately 75 Coral Bay area residents gathered Tuesday for a Planning and Natural Resources Department group dwelling permit hearing on an East End project called East Bay Beach Club were definitely cool to the idea.
“This is a textbook example of pure greed-driven projects,” St. John resident Doug White said at the meeting held at Guy Benjamin School in Coral Bay.
White and many others who attended the hearing wore black T-shirts with “Do Not Approve” blazoned across the front.
White, an architect and proponent of green building, has a house at the Privateer Bay development. His home is on one of what he said was nine lots with houses on them at the largely undeveloped and remote area that sit adjacent to the proposed project.
East Bay, with Marc Davies and Clark Bottner as principals, plans to build a 28-unit development on eight acres. It would have 16 three-bedroom units and a dozen four-bedroom units. The buildings will have one unit downstairs and another upstairs. The project also includes a club house and a pool.
The property sits adjacent to the Privateer development and will be accessed through Privateer’s privately owned roads. Privateer resident Barbara Crowder said the easement given to East Bay allowing it to use the Privateer roads prevents commercial development.
Ron Pennington, a St. Thomas-based attorney representing the Privateer Bay Homeowners Association, said the members opposed granting the Group Dwelling Permit. He said when the members gave East Bay the easement, they envisioned that the developer would build houses spread out around the property.
“This will mimic a central developed hotel,” Pennington said.
The decision on whether to give East Bay a group dwelling permit rests with Planning Commissioner Alicia Barnes, according to Stuart Smith, who heads the department’s Comprehensive and Coastal Zone Planning Division.
The developer also needs a Coastal Zone Management permit because the project sits at the shoreline. Smith said East Bay must get the Group Dwelling Permit before it can move on to the CZM process.
Smith, in response to questions about public access to East Bay’s beach, said the issue will be dealt with by CZM.
Davies said East Bay will initially put up three of the beachfront units, the club house and the pool on a speculation basis. If they sell, East Bay will then move on to the rest of the project.
Residents raised many concerns, including the impact on the roads that lead to the East End. Some spots are already in bad shape and residents worried that a stream of concrete trucks heading out to the project will further deteriorate the roads.
Although Davies and Bottner said they had financing in place to do the first phase, several residents raised the specter of similar projects that experienced financial troubles along the way. Pond Bay Club sits vacant and empty at Chocolate Hole. Sirenusa on the hillside over Cruz Bay sat nearly completed but empty for several years before it was recently sold. Grande Bay in Cruz Bay also had numerous troubles on its way to completion.
Some residents expressed concerns about erosion and potential damage to the endangered elkhorn and staghorn coral that lives in the bay in front of the development.
“The thicket of elkhorn and staghorn coral is the healthiest and largest I’ve seen in the Caribbean. It’s a treasure,” Phil Strenger said.
White and others discussed the problem of electrical supply to the remote location. White said the project will put a huge stress on the V.I. Water and Power Authority’s ability to supply electricity to that area of the island.
Carol Beckowitz, a retired emergency medical technician, said that the location is at least an hour from the ambulance base in Cruz Bay. She said that while residents are aware of this issue, tourists staying at East Bay won’t know that they will have to wait a long time for emergency help.
“It’s irresponsible of us as a community,” she said.
Beckowitz also said that cluster development makes it hard for EMTs to get to patients.
Davies said he and Bottner recently bought the Palm Plaza shopping center near the Westin Resort and Villas. He said he was a developer on Long Beach Island in New Jersey.
To comment, email Smith at stuart.smith@dpnr.vi.gov.
