Oct. 25, 2007 — Compass Point Marina's expansion plans are on hold after the St. Thomas Coastal Zone Management Committee denied the company permission to build the number of docks it wanted.
"It's unlikely we'll be able to proceed," principal Tripp Lea said Thursday.
Compass Point wanted to increase the number of slips from the existing 117 to 343 in the $4 million project, but the CZM gave the marina a permit for a much smaller number Tuesday. The project doesn't look possible financially with the reduced number of docks, Lea said. The CZM permit only allows the company to build three of the seven docks requested.
"It's a reduction of about 100 slips," he said.
The CZM Committee did not allow the three docks because they were too close to nearby lands and navigational waterways, according to a report made available by Planning spokesman Jamal Nielsen.
The majority of the docks eliminated from the plans were the ones that required the least amount of dredging and therefore cost the least to construct, Lea said. He had proposed eliminating 31 slips, but that reduced number didn't pass muster with the CZM.
"We felt like we came up with an elegant solution," he said.
The report said the platform connecting the three allowable docks should be relocated at least 50 feet to the west of the proposed location to reduce the impact on the western shore of Compass Point.
The CZM's approval of moorings for the project would not make the project financially feasible, Lea said.
According to the Planning report, Compass Point would be allowed to install 25 moorings. The limited permit would also allow the marina to dredge a channel to eight feet, taking out 96,000 cubic feet of ocean bottom. Lea said previously that dredging would cost anywhere from $750,000 to $1.1 million. The additional docks were necessary to make the dredging financially feasible, he said.
Several St. Thomas residents spoke out against the project Sept. 27 at a public hearing on the permit application.
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