July 30, 2004 – A Saturday meeting at Emmaus Moravian Church in Coral Bay to discuss the church's real estate development plans has been postponed because the congregation's pastor, the Rev. Lillith George, is off-island, a church source said Friday.
While many members of the community were planning to attend the meeting, the church source said the gathering called by the territorywide Moravian Church Executive Council was intended only for the Boards of Elders and Boards of Stewards of the Emmaus and Bethany Moravian Churches, the St. John congregations.
The church's attorney, Karl Percell, had told the Source on July 24 that he saw no reason that community members could not attend the meeting.
The church source said that after the elders and stewards meet with the Executive Council, they will meet with the church council, and then a community meeting will follow that.
Many Coral Bay residents have been up in arms since they first read in the local media of the Moravian Church plan to build a 150-room hotel, 200 condominium units, a 50-slip marina, a supermarket and an office building on 10 acres of land the church owns in the heart of Coral Bay. Percell said on July 24 that the plans are not engraved in stone.
On July 24, about three dozen Coral Bay residents demonstrated outside Emmaus Church to protest the lack of community input in the development of the plans. Bonnie Blair, who was at that protest, said on Friday she hopes the church hierarchy will meet with the community soon so people can learn more about what it plans.
"We're very eager to talk to them," she said.
She said that many members of the community are disappointed that the church hasn't yet held an open meeting.
Sharon Coldren, president of the Coral Bay Community Council, said there are many ways to protect the waterfront land at issue, and they all need to be explored in an open manner. "We look forward to finding a way the community can participate with the Moravian Church in planning for a good future for all of Coral Bay," she said.
Rumors had circulated for years that the church planned to develop its land, but it was only after stories appeared in the media in late June that Emmaus members and the community learned what was afoot. The plans were contingent on the settlement of a 10-year-old lawsuit in which the church and the Port Authority disputed ownership of a 1.3-acre piece of land located near the Coral Bay dinghy dock. Territorial Court Judge Rhys Hodge ruled on June 4 in the church's favor.
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