June 13, 2001 – An attempt to rezone a 2-acre vacant lot at Mandela Circle to allow a proposed supermarket to circumvent the parameters of its current commercial zoning met with substantial dissension at a public hearing Wednesday.
Plessen Enterprises Inc. has applied for a change to B-1 (business district) zoning from C (commercial). However, at least one member of the Zoning Committee of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources said the B-1 zoning doesn't fit.
Randolph Boschulte said B-1 zoning is restricted to the central district town area, which would be Charlotte Amalie, Christiansted or Frederiksted.
Engineer Alton Adams, who represented Fathi Yusef, a principal of Plessen, at Wednesday's public hearing at DPNR, said he understood the B-1 zoning wasn't appropriate, but needed a way to get the request heard.
"I don't care what the zoning is," he said, adding he would settle for a variance, but wants Plessen to be granted permission to increase the footprint of the building from 50 percent of the lot to 62 percent. He also is seeking permission to increase the height of the proposed building from 36 feet to 40 feet. Commercial zoning restricts building to 50 percent of the lot.
Adams said he had already appealed to the Board of Land Use Appeals, which told him he needed to move the request to DPNR, hence the zoning change request.
Attorney Adriane Dudley, who sent a statement to the hearing that was read into the record, had another objection to the B-1 zoning, under which, she said, there is "no obligation to provide adequate parking" or landscaping.
Colette Monroe, speaking for the League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands, said that at 40 feet the building would be the highest in the area, higher even than its neighbor, the former Ramada Yacht Haven Hotel.
Dudley also questioned the height issue, saying the building would likely be built on fill which would further add to the 40 feet.
Attorney Edith Bornn, who lives in Havensight and said she travels through Mandela Circle "five or six times a day," said the whole project should be cut back, not expanded. "It should be a third of the size," she said. "Normally I talk about beauty. This isn't about beauty. It's about life."
Bornn said she had witnessed several incidents involving large tractor trailers in the intersection that could not make the narrow turns on the first attempt.
However, Adams pointed out on the schematics for the project that the roadway would be widened, thus increasing traffic lanes from two to three.
Rodney Platzke, construction program manager on contract to the Public Works Department, said DPW has already purchased a strip of land adjacent to Plessen's property to construct a turning lane. It was also confirmed that Public Works intends to use land on the east side of the road near the Pueblo Supermarket to facilitate the roadway expansion.
Dudley pointed out the area is a major intersection for travelers. The expansion would mean "more vehicle traffic, less green space." Instead, she said, "It should be (an area) that brings pride."
Bornn called Mandela Circle a mistake and Dudley said a master plan needed to be developed for the intersection where most major routes in and out of town meet.
Plessen bought the property two years ago for $2 million from the Friends of the National Park. At the time Yusef said he hoped a new Plaza Extra would be built, "hopefully within the next two years."
It has sat empty since then.
