The future of Christiansted will be the subject of a charrette,a series of planning sessions open to the public, sponsored this week, by the Enterprise Zone Commission, a division of the Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority, the agency announced Monday.
The first session will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday. Follow up sessions will be at the same time through nightly through Thursday. All sessions will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic School’s Auditorium on Queen Street in Christiansted.
At the charrette, the general public and panelists who specialize in various subjects that affect community and area development will come together to share ideas, opinions, recommendations and possible solutions to the problems that exist in Christiansted.
Representatives from the VIEDA’s Enterprise Zone Commission, including EZC Director Nadine Marchena Kean and enterprise zone specialist Cusa Holloway, will be present.
According to the announcement, the goal of the meetings is to develop a consensus of ideas and solutions to initiate the development of the Christiansted Town Plan. The plan, which is supposed to provide a road map for the economic, social and architectural development of Christiansted, should reflect the vision of the community, the statement by Semele George of VIEDA.
Panel discussion schedule and topics: Monday – “Historical and Cultural Aspects of the Town;” Tuesday – “Social Issues and Housing;” Wednesday – “Environmental Impacts;” and Thursday – “Economic Development.”
A typical charrette was described in George’s news release as “an intensive, multi-disciplinary weeklong design workshop designed to facilitate an open discussion between stakeholders of a development project."
A team of design experts will meet with community groups, developers and neighbors gathering information on the issues that face the community. The charrette team will then find design solutions that will result in a a "vision for future development.”
Christiansted is one of the designated enterprise zones in the U.S. Virgin Islands along with Savanne on St. Thomas and the town of Frederiksted on St. Croix.
More information is available by calling Holloway at 340-773-6499, ext. 234, or sending her email at cholloway@usvieda.org.