On the same day that plans for a proposed zip-line tour through Magens Bay were revealed by the Source, Aubrey Nelthropp, chairman of the Magens Bay Authority, cancelled a public board meeting scheduled for this Friday.
The zip-line, proposed by local businessman Michael Ball and discussed behind closed doors during the board’s executive sessions, would begin near the top of Magens Bay Road, on property owned by Ball’s family, and end in the Alphonso Nelthropp Arboretum at Magens Bay.
A zip-line (also known as a zip wire) is essentially a pulley suspended on a cable mounted on an incline. It is designed to enable a user to traverse from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable by attaching to the freely moving pulley.
Multiple sources close to the project have described it in detail, including the fee structure in which cruise ship passengers will pay $100 per person, with $50 going to the cruise line, $44 to Ball and $6 to Magens Bay. (For more detail on the proposal, see link to Monday’s Source article at story’s end.)
Supports and infrastructure for the zip-line would be partially built on land owned by The Nature Conservancy. According to Aaron Hutchins, the conservancy’s director of government relations in the Virgin Islands, they have had several meetings with Ball and discussions with the board regarding the zip-line but have yet to receive a written proposal.
When contacted this week for comment, Nelthropp denied any knowledge of the zip-line proposal, claiming not to even know what a "zip-line" was.
The board meeting, which is open to the public, has been rescheduled for Friday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. at Magens Bay Shed No. 4.
The public is invited to attend.
