The Senate Committee of the Whole met on St. Croix Wednesday to hear arguments regarding five potential changes to the island’s zoning map.
No votes were taken at the informational meeting. Each of the five proposals has already been given the go-ahead by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. The next step in the zoning process is for a senator to sponsor the changes in a bill that will eventually be voted upon by the full Senate.
The most controversial of the five changes was requested by Gold Coast Yachts, Inc., which is hoping to build a facility to house its 27-year-old boat building business.
Owner Richard Difede said the company has purchased a small lot abutting Christiansted Harbor. The lot was ideal for their purposes because the harbor was protected from waves and the seafloor near the shoreline was deep enough to launch catamarans.
Difede characterized a new facility as an absolute necessity. Though the company is prosperous, building multi-hull yachts that can cost several million dollars, Difede said that during their 27-year history they have never had a lease on their current workshop on Salt River.
He said their landlord was friendly, but he was hoping to sell the property to the National Park Service, which would require the business to relocate.
“We’re rapidly coming to the end of our goodwill at Salt River,” he said.
Stuart Smith, director of comprehensive and coastal zone planning for DPNR, said that the zoning change Gold Coast requested (from R-3 medium residential to W-2 waterfront industrial) was too extreme, but otherwise the department had no objections to the company’s proposed use of the lot. He recommended the Senate pass a zone variation rather than a zoning change, which would allow Gold Coast to manufacture and repair ships on the property.
Several people attended the hearing to testify in opposition to the zoning change, including Paul Chakroff of the St. Croix Environmental Association and representatives of Club Saint Croix.
The lot in question is in Estate Golden Rock situated between Club Saint Croix and the Water and Power Authority’s Richmond Power Station.
Chakroff said approving heavy industry along Christiansted Harbor could lead to greater pollution in the area.
Difede said their proposed workshop would be entirely enclosed and contain an air filtration system, ensuring that any emissions from their property would be minimal. He also said they were not seeking permission to dispose of waste into the ocean.
Chakroff said the senators should be concerned of accidental pollution that could occur through storm runoff.
Some of the senators pointed out that the water near the WAPA plant was already heavily impacted by industry. One asked Chakroff whether he thought it would be a good thing to move Gold Coast from Salt River, which is a sensitive ecological area, to one that was already polluted.
Chakroff replied that while he would like to see Gold Coast move out of Salt River, he did not believe Christiansted Harbor was an appropriate place to relocate the company. He urged the Senate to direct the company to find a suitable location along the south shore of the island.
Rick Pollard, secretary of the Club Saint Croix Homeowners Association, also spoke in opposition. He said the placement of an industrial enterprise at the edge of their property would negatively impact their ability to rent condominiums to tourists.
Both Sens. Terrence Nelson and Judi Buckley questioned whether a boat-building workshop would negatively impact the aesthetics of the area any more than the WAPA plant already has.
Nelson noted the area in question was currently littered with household trash from a nearby housing complex.
Several senators asked Difede if there was another plot of land on the island that the company could use instead. He replied that they had been looking for two decades and that none of the other areas with the physical features necessary for launching boats were available to them.
He said, however, that he would be more than willing to trade his plot for a parcel of suitable government land if an appropriate lot could be found.
“If there’s a better place on St. Croix to locate us, we’d like to know about it,” he said.
After several hours of questioning, the Senators roundly agreed that something needed to be done to ensure Gold Coast would be able to stay in business, but few were willing to openly support the zoning variance.
Sen. Nelson offered to sponsor the bill, however, and move it towards a vote.
David and Kay Lineham requested a zone variance to allow them to park their mobile food truck permanently on a residential property in La Grande Princess. They said they have been operating their barbecue restaurant at the location for several years and rarely move the food truck. The Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs told them they may be in violation of their mobile food-vending license and that they should seek the zoning variance to avoid any legal problems.
Smith spoke in favor of the variance, arguing that the area close to North Shore Road was primarily commercial, so a permanent restaurant would not be out of place.
Tanja McPherson strongly opposed this assertion. McPherson owns a home on the dead-end road adjacent to the Lineham’s lot and says their operation was highly bothersome to the neighborhood.
She claimed smoke from the restaurant wafted up the hillside into her home and that music from their outdoor speakers could easily be heard from her property.
McPherson said she had bought her home shortly before the Linehams parked their food truck on the lot. She said he and her husband had researched the zoning of the neighborhood specifically to avoid a situation in which a restaurant opened in their neighborhood.
She claimed the Linehams were currently in violation of the zoning code and the Legislature should not reward them by legitimizing their business with a variance.
Senate President Shawn-Michael Malone asked Smith whether or not the Linehams’ restaurant violated the zoning code. Smith replied that it was complicated.
He said DPNR’s position was that food trucks should only operate on plots zoned for restaurants, but regulations regarding mobile food vendors in the code were ill defined, and as such, the department had largely left them alone.
He said it was possible the Linehams were in violation, but if the variance were granted it would bring them into compliance.
None of the senators took a firm stance in favor or against the proposal, but several encouraged the Linehams to improve their relationship with their neighbors.
Sen. Nelson later indicated that Sen. Nereida Nelson-O’Reilly had already submitted a bill to approve the zoning variance.
Hussam Rahhal, proprietor of the East End Service Station in Estate Boetzberg, requested a zoning variance to allow him to produce ice for retail at his business. Rahhal says he currently buys his ice from another manufacturer on the island, but in the time it takes for it to be delivered, it begins to melt and his customers have complained.
Diane Prime of DPNR said Rahhal’s proposal would not require any addition to his property. She said he was simply seeking to house an ice machine within his existing business and it would have “no visual or audible impact to the neighborhood.”
Some of the senators registered surprise that the issue was coming before them. Sen. Craig Barshinger said he did not realize adding an ice machine would require a zoning change, but he thanked Rahhal for going through the proper legal process.
None of the senators voiced any opposition to his proposal.
Two other zoning issues were heard but received little debate. Jannie Daniel requested a zone variance to a small commercial property near the St. Croix Educational Complex so she could open a math-tutoring business, and Gloria Skerrit requested 2.2 acres of her agricultural land be rezoned as residential and subdivided so she could give it to her four children as a gift.
Neither plan received any opposition from the senators or testifiers. Sens. Donald Cole, Clifford Graham, and Nelson each offered to sponsor their bills.
Attending the hearing were Sens. Malone, Cole, Graham, Buckley, Barshinger, Nelson, Tregenza Roach, Samuel Sanes, Myron Jackson, Alicia Hansen, Kenneth Gittens, and Diane Capehart.
Sen. Janette Millin Young was absent and Sens. Clarence Payne III and Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly were excused.
