If the Senate approves the V.I. government-Beal Aerospace land exchange at Great Pond Bay, the St. Croix Environmental Association vows to take the matter to court.
According to Robin Freeman, a consultant for SEA and its former executive director, a strategy is already in place. Because the 14.5 acres of land up for exchange at Great Pond Bay was deeded to the government for public use, SEA contends that it cannot be traded to a private company like Beal.
Beal has proposed that the government exchange nearly 14.5 acres of land at Camp Arawak on Great Pond Bay, home to historical artifacts and buildings, for land at Estates Grange Hill and Whim. Beal, which needs the Arawak property for a portion of its parking lot, is looking to purchase approximately 300 acres altogether for its world headquarters and rocket assembly plant.
The company maintains most of the acreage would be used as a buffer surrounding the seven-acre building.
Freeman said SEA had been advised that if the government, which is the trustee of the Camp Arawak land, violates the trust, courts will allow interested parties to sue to become the appointed trustee.
"The court is required to fulfill the intent of the donor," said Richard Austin, an attorney and resident of the Great Pond area. "In this case, the court will be asked whether the intent of the donor — to create a park for the people and visitors of the Virgin Islands — will be best fulfilled by building a portion of a rocket factory on the land or by putting the property in the hands of a local citizens' group that will preserve the land for a park and historical purposes."
The V.I. League of Women Voters has also raised questions about the intent of the late Frank Wiesner when he deeded the land in 1974 to the government for "the express and direct purpose of beach, park and other public recreational use."
In a July letter to Senate President Vargrave Richards, Erva Denham, the League’s president, said the land swap could cause individuals who are thinking of donating land to the government to reconsider.
"If this property is transferred . . . the basic covenants of this deed of gift will be broken, and some dangerous precedents will be set," Denham wrote.
Freeman said that Beal’s statement that the company would pull out of St. Croix if the land exchange is not approved was "likely to blow up" in the company’s face.
"It is insulting for Beal to threaten the government that if the Senate does not approve the plan to convert a park into a rocket factory, Beal is going to make the government lose the property," Freeman said.
