Oct. 30, 2007 — After a delay of about 10 months, work has resumed on the Calabash Boom affordable-housing project on St. John.
"I'm frustrated," said Developer Robert O. Jackson, president of Reliance Housing Services, when asked Tuesday how he felt about the delay.
Reliance had to get started by Oct. 15 to comply with the terms of its tax credits used in building the project. Reliance delayed starting construction after winning a Board of Land Use Appeals case in July to "fully comply" with the federal guidelines for storm-water management, Jackson said in a news release issued Monday.
On Tuesday he said Reliance is the first project to come under the territorial pollution discharge elimination system permit process now required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act and administered by the V.I. Department of Planning and Natural Resources. Storm-water management efforts included paving roads and installing sediment-control devices and basins, which is now underway, Jackson said. Reliance is also working on the community building and will start constructing the units when the storm-water work is done.
It will take about 18 months to finish the project, Jackson said.
Reliance started work on the project in December 2006. However, the company was quickly forced to stop when Planning issued a cease-and-desist order because Reliance didn't have a U.S. Army Corp of Engineers permit and did not submit a spill contingency control plan and water and air quality certificates.
The ad hoc group Friends of Coral Bay then took Reliance to court to get a 10-day temporary restraining order against the project. After the temporary restraining order expired, U.S. District Judge Curtis Gomez never ruled on the group's request to make the order permanent, Jackson said.
After upholding the cease-and-desist order at a Jan. 26 meeting, the St. John Coastal Zone Management Committee agreed Feb. 22 to approve a modification to the original permit. The modification eliminated the portion of the permit that included reverse osmosis plant intake and discharge lines used to generate potable water for the project. Instead, Reliance will depend on wells and rainwater collected in cisterns to supply the needs of residents. (See "CZM Committee Approves Water Modifications for Calabash Boom Development.")
The Friends of Coral Bay then filed with the Board of Land Use Appeals, which meant that work on the Calabash Boom project couldn't go forward until the appeal was heard.
On July 6, the board agreed to dismiss the Friends' case against the CZM Committee for its Feb. 22 decision to give Reliance a modification to its CZM permit. The board agreed that it was within the CZM's purview to grant the permit.
Friends of Coral Bay attorney Alan Smith could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Smith previously cited issues such as runoff from the site, the nature and content of the effluent and the decision to use it to flush toilets and for irrigation, and the use of wells he said were inadequate to supply water for the project.
Since storm-water runoff was one of the Friends' reasons for opposing the project, Jackson said he hopes the members "will now show their good faith and support the construction of affordable housing on St. John," according to the release.
Reliance plans to build 24 town houses that will be sold, as well as 48 rental apartments on 9.2 acres at the Calabash Boom site. (See "CZM Grants Permit for 72 Affordable Housing Units.")
The same company built Bellevue Village affordable housing on St. John and the Lovenlund affordable-housing complex on St. Thomas.
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