After tabling a final decision last week due to a lack of a quorum, the St. Thomas Coastal Zone Management Committee convened Wednesday evening again to approve next steps for the Yvonne E. Milliner Bowsky Elementary and Emanuel Benjamin Oliver PreK-8 schools.
Design plans for schools were presented during a public hearing in March. The renovated and modernized Bowsky campus is slated to increase student capacity from 420 to 624 and will feature new classrooms, a new gymnasium and safe shelter, a sports field, more parking and various infrastructural improvements. Emanuel Benjamin Oliver will be completely demolished and rebuilt to accommodate 486 students.
The votes came in the middle of an already-scheduled public hearing during which commissioners heard plans to expand and modernize the Lockhart PreK-8 School, demolish and rebuild the Knud Hansen Complex and the St. Thomas Yacht Club.
Lockhart was deemed unsafe for students and faculty after it was damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria almost nine years ago. Plans for the new school include demolishing the interiors and exterior cladding for the campus’s 13 existing buildings and building three new structures to house classrooms, administrative offices and a gymnasium. On Wednesday, commissioners’ initial questions centered on the preservation and availability of green space on campus as well as accessibility.
Michael McGuinn of Zyscovich Architects said the proposed design makes for a “very easy, walkable, accessible campus” at ground level and that there will be an elevator to allow access to the second floor. Responding to questions from Commissioner Vance Pinney, McGuinn said school will remain in session during construction.
“But obviously, maintaining the safety of the campus for students, faculty, visitors and so forth,” he said. “So yes, we will be zoning off those areas, constructing behind fence gate areas and so forth, and managing any kind of circulation and access to the campus so we maintain — in coordination with VIDE — an absolutely safe campus for everyone.”
The committee later heard from Springline Architects project manager Kristy Bardwell, Suffolk Construction’s health care program manager, Andrew Potts, and stakeholders regarding demolition and construction for the Knud Hansen Complex. Assistant Human Services Commissioner Taetia Phillips-Dorsett, introducing the project, said the new proposed four-story office building will allow for a “one stop, one shop model in which the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services would be colocated on one centrally-located campus adjacent to downtown St. Thomas.” The new building will include space for the Health Department to operate community health and communicable disease clinics and a parking structure.
Chris Rosenberg, past commodore of the St. Thomas Yacht Club and current board member, later presented plans to upgrade, repair and harden the 61-year-old club, which he said does not have a Coastal Zone Management permit because its construction predated the commission’s existence. The proposal involves installing permanent roofs over existing areas currently covered with awnings and installing a 50-kilowatt solar array as well as a retaining wall and swale to mitigate stormwater.
