V.I. Port Authority officials said Monday that two more homes in the Estate Bournefield housing community, located behind the Gladys Abraham Elementary School on St. Thomas, are scheduled for demolition.
A demolition permit was recently approved by Planning and Natural Resources for two units on Parcel 68, and VIPA said in a news release that the work is expected to start Wednesday.
"VIPA Executive Director Carlton Dowe said the buildings are being removed in keeping with the authority’s policy to demolish vacant homes on the Bournefield property," the release said. "Dowe said that the Bournefield residents will be notified about the demolition via hand-delivered notices before the work begins."
Contacted by the Source Monday evening, VIPA spokeswoman Monifa Marrero said money for the demolition will be coming from the Port’s contingency fund; a $250,000 appropriation from the fund is made for each island in VIPA’s 2013 budget.
"VIPA plans to remove all vacated homes in Bournefield," Marrero added. "Furthermore, it is not safe to have vacated buildings in a residential area or near a school. Vacant buildings encourage squatters and other illegal activities that would threaten the safety of the nearby residents and the teachers of the Gladys Abraham Elementary School."
At least two Bournefield residents contended that the houses were vacant and the occupants moved to other units because the homes fell into disrepair since the port authority, which owns Bournefield, neglected to maintain them.
While the Source has not been able to confirm those reports, Monday’s announcement comes on the heels of the recent demolition of two other vacant units in Bournefield – nos. 202 and 249 – which VIPA board members have said were uninhabitable. At a recent VIPA board meeting, it was also said that at least one of the units was in the middle of a flood plain and could not be properly fixed.
VIPA has tried for years to divest itself of the Bournefield property, with board members and at least two executive directors saying that it was never the authority’s intention to stay in the housing business. Bournefield residents, however, have opposed VIPA’s position since at least 2006 and several times have stopped any demolition from moving forward.
In 2011, the issue was even taken up by senators who threatened to pass a bill that would put a stop to VIPA’s plans to evict the tenants with just four months notice.
Along with Monday’s announcement of the upcoming demolition, the most recent link in the chain of events was added at a VIPA board meeting in February, when Dowe said that a plan to eventually condemn all the units and move the residents to another site was in the works.
In July, VIPA followed up on the promise, with Dowe announcing that the port has begun looking for contractors for a new development in Lindbergh Bay that would house the Bournefield residents. The authority sent out copies of an advertisment for "real estate services" to the local media, along with a release saying that VIPA was moving forward with its plans to relocate the residents.
Any contractor selected for the project will be developing the remainder of Parcel 68, which is located at the rear of the University of the Virgin Islands campus. The land is owned by the Port and would be leased or bought by the developer, according to previous news releases.
Marrero added Monday that all bids must be in by 3 p.m. on August 30.
