May 2, 2007 — The Department of Property and Procurement has scrapped plans to develop a Motor Pool and Motor Vehicle Bureau facilities on property in Estate Bethlehem — real estate that is perceived by some area farmers to be prime agricultural lands.
Tuesday morning, members of area farmers cooperatives, along with three senators, staged an early morning press conference in Estate Bethlehem to protest plans for the facility (See "Farmers Stage 11th-Hour Protest to Stop Motor Pool Construction").
According to a Government House release, the joint decision to table the plans was made at a meeting convened on St. Croix by Gov. John P. deJongh Jr. between Commissioner of Agriculture Louis "Akil" Petersen and Property and Procurement Commissioner Lynn A. Millin.
"I am extremely pleased that a resolution to this issue has been reached. We remain committed to an agricultural agenda that includes various parcels of real estate on the island. We will now look elsewhere for less fragile land to develop the much-needed motor pool complex for St. Croix," deJongh said Wednesday.
Millin said after the meeting that "alternate sites are being reviewed" for the motor pool facility. She added, "The property is zoned 'P' for public use, but we recognize that the Agriculture Department has use for the property. And in the spirit of working together, we will turn control of the property over to Agriculture for its use."
During the meeting at Government House, it was revealed that development of a motor pool facility at the site would have had a negative effect on nearby and adjacent property already used for agriculture purposes — especially a nearby water table.
"This land has great potential as we have seen in the development of adjacent properties," Petersen said, adding, "The Department of Agriculture is pleased with the decision, it is one which reinforces our promise to preserve all farmland that now exist in the Virgin Islands."
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