Dec. 12, 2002 – With St. John's vendors plaza/parking garage inching closer to reality, St. John Administrator Julien Harley has called a community meeting to hear what people have to say about its final design.
The meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Legislature Building in Cruz Bay.
Harley said Apex Construction, the successful bidder on the project, and its architect will be on hand with conceptual drawings of the planned structure.
The project, across from the Creek bulkhead, will have two floors, Harley said. The upper level will have 70 parking spaces and be open to the skies. The lower level will be a mix of parking and vendors' spaces with two restrooms and two handicapped parking spaces.
"It cannot look like a parking garage," Harley said, citing the structure's location across from a busy tourist area as a reason. He said the building will have to have a softer look with lots of trees around it.
The site is now occupied by a dirt parking lot, a long-unused asphalt tank and four business housed in non-permanent structures. Harley said the businesses will have to relocate just before construction starts. He expects the work to get under way in March after the government secures the required permits.
Space has been made available for those businesses — a car rental agency, a smoothie stand, a fruit and vegetable stand, and a small restaurant — in the currently unused building that previously housed the Motor Vehicle Bureau.
Harley suggested that anyone interested in leasing space at the vendors plaza/parking garage attend the meeting. He said neither vendor spaces nor parking will be free — "but it won't be expensive."
He said there will probably be a mix of short- and longer-term parking.
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