Nov. 9, 2008 — Nearly five years since its first meeting, the Coral Bay Community Council is celebrating its accomplishments with a pot luck party Monday that will run from 5 to 8 p.m. at Miss Lucy's Restaurant on Route 107 in Friis Bay.
The organization got its start when the Planning and Natural Resources Department asked for comment on a proposed Area of Particular Concern designation for the Coral Bay area. Planning wanted input from non-governmental organizations, but at that time none existed in Coral Bay.
"We began to look around and found people who had concerns," President Sharon Coldren recalled.
A core group — Coldren, Mary Blazine, Alvis Christian, Lorelei Monsanto, Kent Irish, Jean Cotrell, Marie Naisby and others — planned an organizational meeting in early November 2003, but a week of rain that caused havoc across the island made a postponement necessary.
About a week later, the organizers held their first meeting Nov. 17, 2003, with about 40 or 50 people attending. Since then, membership has grown to about 200 people.
The organization meets about once a month at the John's Folly Learning Institute. Most meetings feature a speaker discussing a topic pertinent to Coral Bay issues.
In addition to Coldren, current officers are Vice President Barbara Dalmida Thompson, Secretary Amelia Jones and Tresurer Cotrell.
The board of directors consists of Coldren, Cottrell, Irish, Naisby, Thompson, Bonny Corbeil, Joan Thomas and Amelia Jones. The advisory council consists of Blazine, Elvis Marsh and Guy Benjamin.
Coral Bay Community Council spent its first few years with its budget coming only from membership dues. However, the organization now gets grant funding and donations to augment the dues.
The council expects to spend $25,000 to $30,000 this year, with expenditures of $170,000 projected for next year, according to Coldren.
In 2007, the Coral Bay Community Council received a $10,900 grant from New England Biolabs Foundation and an individual to spend on shark research in Coral Bay. This year the organization got a $300,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to come up with a solution to the sedimentation problems in Coral Bay. When it rains, the bay turns brown from soil running down the hillsides.
"We're moving into the next phase," Coldren said.
That means hiring a stormwater engineer with the EPA grant money. Additionally, the organization is looking for a part-time accountant.
In discussing the organization's accomplishments, Coldren said that in 2005 members and area residents came up with a vision of how they'd like to see Coral Bay grow. Unfortunately, those plans are still in the hopper because Planning hasn't yet hired the promised St. John planner.
Over the past five years, the organization has pushed for better police presence in Coral Bay and assisted Coral Bay's Guy Benjamin School in several ways. They include buying playground equipment and keeping the playground in good shape.
And for several years, the Community Council sponsored a candidates' night before the primary election.
Coldren, who holds a master's degree in regional and community planning from the London School of Economics, is using her education to help move the Community Council forward.
"In the next five years, we'll need to become more professional with staff and raise more funds," she said.
For more information, visit coralbaycommunitycouncil.orgor call 776-2099.
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