Oct. 24, 2007 — A missing Coastal Zone Management permit was an issue for senators Wednesday at the Legislature's Planning and Environmental Protection Committee meeting, held at the St. Thomas chambers.
A permit for a small dock at North Slob on Teague Bay, St. Croix, was on a list of permitted docks at the Planning and Natural Resources Department, but neither Planning nor the owner can locate the permit.
MP Properties principal Kevin Brandt said he has owned the dock and the adjacent house since February 2005, while the previous owners had the property for about a year. He believes the dock has been there for 15 to 20 years.
"We believe it was permitted under Interior Department permits," said Norman Williams, assistant CZM director.
Some of the Interior Department permits are on file at Planning, but others were lost during various moves, Williams said. As far as he knows, Planning has not asked the Interior Department to look for the permit.
The dock itself is 289 square feet, with a walkway 28 feet long by five feet wide. Twenty of those 28 feet are on the sand. The dock sits in one to two feet of water, and is used only for tying up an occasional dinghy and as a place to sit, Brandt said.
MB Properties will pay $2,825 a year for 10 years. The committee eventually approved the MB Properties permit, as well as four other minor CZM permits.
The committee gave the V.I. Water and Power Authority (WAPA) a minor CZM permit to install a 400-foot submarine cable between St. Thomas and Hassel Island. The cable serves nine customers on Hassel Island.
Gregory Rhymer, WAPA's director of system planning, said the authority needs to replace the 24-year-old existing cable because it's at the end of its life span, and only one of the three phases work.
"Just by the grace of God, the last phase hangs on," Rhymer said. Boaters have damaged the cable, but Planning is doing a better job of enforcing regulations to keep them away from it, he said.
The project will cost $200,000 for labor. The cable itself is left over from a similar project that ran between St. Thomas and St. John.
Sen. Juan Figueroa-Serville took issue with the fact that WAPA is paying $200,000 to lay a cable that services nine customers. Customers on St. Croix have to pay "thousands of dollars" to hook up to WAPA, he said.
"I see a huge discrepancy," he said. "Customers are not being treated fairly."
Rhymer explained that customers only have to pay to hook up from the main transmission line, not for the main transmission line itself. When new Hassel Island customers want to hook up, they'll also have to pay to do so, he said.
WAPA will pay $500 a year for the 20-year permit.
Sidney Commissiong received a permit to dredge 280 cubic yards of sea floor in front of his property at Frydenhoj, St. Thomas. He said he needs to dredge eight feet deep because the area filled in after Hurricane Marilyn hit in 1995, and he wants to keep his 55-foot boat at that location.
"Without this, I can't use my boat," he said.
Commissiong owns 53 feet of shoreline sandwiched between two parts of Saga Haven Marina, and Saga Haven's fuel dock has spilled over to the area in front of his property, he said.
Commissiong will pay $1,000 a year for the 10-year permit. Additionally, he'll pay a one-time charge of $280 for the dredged spoils, which he said he plans to use as fill at his house.
The committee gave a permit to the Buccaneer Hotel on St. Croix to install intake and outfall pipes for a reverse-osmosis plant. The water will be used for irrigation and other purposes, according to Buccaneer engineer Douglas Armstrong. The hotel will pay $2,825 per year for 10 years.
St. John resident Robert Gross received a renewal of his permit for a 353-square-foot dock at Sander's Bay in Coral Bay, St. John. He keeps a 13-foot Boston Whaler at the dock, located near his home. He'll pay $1,000 a year.
All four senators at the meeting voted yes on all the minor permits. They were Figueroa-Serville, Sen. Usie Richards, Sen. Celestino White, and committee chairman Sen. Alvin Williams. Absent were Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, Sen. James Weber and Sen. Carmen Wesselhoft.
Back Talk Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
