The St. Thomas-St. John Historic Preservation Committee held its monthly meeting Tuesday and approved several applications; however, one in particular violates the approved building permits and obstructs the building next to it.
The committee, under the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, began by hearing presentations from individual applicants and providing board decisions. Upon reviewing the fourth application for the addition of a third floor at Dronningens Gade 2B & 2C, Kings Quarter, it was discovered that construction for the additional floor had already begun prematurely without the necessary approval.
“So they’re actually coming to us after the fact, cause they already planned to do a third floor and had no intention of doing the hip roof,” said Enrique Rodriguez, committee member.
At the beginning of the presentation, Martin Acevedo Marte, the architect of the project, requested the committee’s approval to add a third floor. The property was originally approved for a trailer structure and later permitted as a two-story building with a hip roof. However, after the construction of the two-story building, the applicant is now seeking approval for an additional floor. Rodriguez then inquired why Marte chose to wait until the seventh meeting, well after construction had already begun, to request permission for the third floor.
“Because the family situation, the growth of the family,” replied Marte. “The individual, Mr. Jiminez, two children came from oversees and his family growth was demanded he have space for his family.”
Marte told the committee that the B3 zoning allows for the three levels. Rodriguez mentioned that B3 is zoned for business and asked Marte if the top floor will be used as a residence or business. Marte replied residential.
However, when State Historic Preservation Office Director Sean Krigger shared a current photo of the property, it was revealed that the building was not being constructed to accommodate the approved hip roof. Instead, a column to support a staircase and flooring had been built on the north side of the property, exposing to the committee that the applicant had already begun constructing a third floor.
“We are developing the third floor. So there has to be a way for the stairs to be created. We have created it within the realm of design of the structure to make it look historical. We are creating the design for the third floor stairs,” said Marte. He added, “The third hasn’t been started in a sense. The third floor is from the slab up.”
“Yes it has, you completely started the third floor. You were supposed to put a hip roof there and you now have a slab. So you have now started the third floor,” said Rodriguez, who added that the column visually impairs the building next to it.
Marte responded that it was his first time seeing the column and he would get his lawyers involved to address it.
“You’ve placed a column next to a sensitive historical building,” said Rodriguez. “You have completely violated our trust in creating something that we haven’t approved. You have completely violated the trust of the commission,” said Rodriguez. “We would have recommended that that stairwell be on the opposite side of the building because of the sensitive nature of the building next to it.”
After several exchanges, it was clarified that Marte was not on island and was not aware that the building of the additional floor was occurring. Marte informed committee members that upon his return to the territory he would address the issue with the property owners.
Committee member Kurt Marsh told Marte “The bigger problem there is now you have an issue not even just with historic preservation. Building permits. If that’s a structure that’s going up that building permits did not have the opportunity to review and approve that could incur fines as well. So you really should try to get to the bottom of it.”
“In the historic district three stories is allowed, that’s the maximum height. Per the zoning requirements though you should know that the highest a structure can go, as this is new construction, is 36 feet, and for a building that has a hip roof, it’s to the midpoint of that hip coming up,” Krigger said. “Your drawings say that the third floor top level wall is 34 feet six inches,” he added.
Krigger also noted that the top ridge level is currently being noted as 40 feet six inches.
The board voted to continue the application until further investigation.
Committee members Bill Newbold, Kurt Marsh, Colette Burgess, and Enrique Rodriguez were present.
