A project to rebuild the Hull Bay Vessel Launch Ramp is being sent back out to bid after officials dubbed two offers $2 million apart “ludicrous” at a Senate hearing Monday.
Jean-Pierre Oriol, commissioner of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, said the ramp project went out to bid earlier this year and by March had received only two responses.
“One came back at $6 million; one came back at $4 million,” Oriol said. “If we were to bring that up into a dollar per square foot for concrete, we’re talking, what, $2,400 or $2,500 per square foot?”
At least one of the bids for removal and replacement of the 120-foot, six-inch concrete slab ramp seemed high to Sen. Alma Francis Heyliger.
“It sounds a little bit ludicrous what I’m hearing,” Francis Heyliger said.
“You are spot on, senator. It is absolutely ludicrous,” Oriol said.
How to rebuild the ramp had raised contention among boaters and residents of Hull Bay last year. Previously considered efforts to expand a parking area that included removing large ancient trees had been postponed indefinitely, he said. Requests for bids to rebuild the ramp only would be issued shortly, Oriol told the Committee on Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure and Planning.
Elsewhere, Oriol said repairs to the Enid Baa Library were slated to start June 19 and repairs to the Charles W. Turnbull Library were scheduled for completion in September. The Athalie M. Petersen repairs were stalled, he said, because of change orders not covered by Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
A $229,537 contract for Quetel Fish Market repairs had been signed and work was tentatively scheduled to start July 1, he said.
A long awaited draft of the territorial Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan would be released before June 17, he said.
“Beginning the week of June 24, DPNR will hold three more town hall meetings, one on each island, to once again obtain public input. Our goal is to have a final Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan by August 2024,” the commissioner said.
The threshold for major building permits needs to be increased from $75,000, set in 1978, to a proper, modern amount based on the change in dollar buying power.
Why should a 900-square-foot, $100,000 business renovation require a major permit when a $70,000 residential redesign to an 11,000-square-foot home not require a major permit, Oriol asked.
The department has been busy collecting and processing $150 million in construction applications since October and collected $160K in violation fines.
All that has been hindered by staffing shortages, he said.
“A major struggle is the lack of funding to hire additional personnel in the non-federally funded divisions,” Oriol said. “Where we may have the federal resources to hire new individuals, we have struggled to fill those vacancies, which results in us not being able to provide all the services we would like to.”
Education Department Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington told the Senate of her long list of repairs, some in preparation for the autumn school year, some long-term construction projects with completion goals before 2034.
“Over the summer break, our dedicated maintenance team has been working diligently to address potential issues and implement necessary upgrades. We believe it is crucial to maintain a conducive and safe environment for our students’ growth and development. The department has established a petty cash system where maintenance directors in both districts can have access to funding, $50,000, for emergency repairs at our sites,” Wells-Hedrington said. “The maintenance directors were very elated to see the increase in local funding being given to the division with the establishment of the bureau. Historically maintenance has received $2,000,000 territory-wide, and that has increased now to $5,000,000 territory-wide. In addition, the bureau has received a one-time amount of $7,500,000 and the reprogramming funding from the Public Finance Authority in the amount of $3,417,978.25.”
The $3.4 billion in capital improvement projects has the department and Office of Disaster Recovery busy, she said.
Phase one of modernization work at the Wheatley Discovery Center at the Charlotte Amalie High School Annex was complete and phase two pending, Wells-Hedrington said.
Design work was 90 percent complete for construction of the Arthur A. Richards PreK-8 at the Evelyn Williams Campus. The school’s projected opening date is August 2026, she said. Phase one of modernization work at the Raphael O. Wheatley Skills Center at the Gladys A. Abraham Campus was nearly complete, with plans for phase two — adding a culinary kitchen, additional teaching space upstairs, and additional lobby and administrative spaces — under review.
Design work was underway for the new Alexander Henderson PreK-8, Boschulte PreK-8, a new Charlotte Amalie High School and a new St. Croix Central High School, Claude O. Markoe PreK-8, Edith Williams Alternative Education Academy, Julius E. Sprauve PreK-12, Lockhart PreK-8 with 6-8, modernization of the St. Croix Education Complex, the St. Thomas/St. John Education Administration Center and the St. Croix Education Administration Center, she said.
“We’re planning the construction of new facilities to accommodate the growing needs of our student body. This includes new classrooms, laboratories, and multipurpose spaces designed to foster collaboration and innovation,” Wells-Hedrington said.
Future projects included a new Alfredo Andrews PreK-8, Dunbavin Alternative Education Center, modernization of the E. Benjamin Oliver PreK-8, modernization of the Guy H. Benjamin Cultural and Center and Park, a new Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, a new Jane E. Tuitt PreK-3, modernization of the John H. Woodson Discovery Center, a new Juanita Gardine PreK-8, a new Pearl B. Larsen PreK-8, and a new Ulla F. Muller PreK-8, and modernization of the Yvonne Milliner Bowsky PreK-8 with 6-8.
Some of the modernization was spacial, some linguistic, she said.
“Our schools, like most schools built more than 40 years ago, rely primarily on the traditional classroom as the main learning space and all classrooms are the same size. The traditional classroom is designed for 30 students to sit and receive a lecture from the teacher and the student remains inside the classroom other than to go to special classes or lunch. Educational practice has changed significantly since we were in school. The lecture is one of many teaching modes and teachers are expected to use other teaching modes most of the time,” Wells-Hedrington said. “The different types of spaces that will be included in every learning community to accommodate differentiated instruction are shown in the diagram below. These spaces are of different sizes and configurations. The term learning studio replaces the term classroom.”
