St. John will see progress in its continuing recovery efforts from hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. A major permit to rebuild the Public Works maintenance facility was approved on Monday by the island’s Coastal Zone Management Board.
Board members also agreed to allow a modification to the development plans for Lovango Cay. The owner of a resort being built there asked permission to add a solar energy system with battery storage.
Because Monday’s session was a CZM decision meeting, most of the detailed discussion had already taken place. Department of Planning and Natural Resource Coastal Zone Management Director Marlon Hibbert offered staff recommendations for each project prior to board members taking votes.
Both measures passed without objections; special conditions were added to each project.
The Public Works project calls for demolition and reconstruction of government property located in Estate Susannaberg to include the administrative office, maintenance building, V.I. Transit (VITRAN) headquarters and recycling facility.
Commissioners Raef Boulon, Elissa Runyon, and Kurt Marsh Jr. joined St. John CZM Chair Andrew Penn in voting to approve. “So, gentlemen of the Public Works, I promise to approve, and you’re all set to begin,” Hibbert said following the vote. The director stressed the importance of observing the 14 special conditions added to the project, including one to secure all construction debris prior to the onset of any weather emergency.
When the agenda moved to a decision to modify the permit for Lovango Resort & Beach Club — doing business as Lovango Island Holdings, LLP — resort owner Mark Snyder spoke.
“It’s important to have this discussion in December because of a new presidential administration taking charge in Washington, he said. Offers of tax benefits for the installation of solar systems by the federal government are likely to change as a result,” Snyder said.
“ … we’re excited to finally get to the point that we can actually install our solar system and this has taken us years to put together and it will allow us to reduce our diesel consumption by 70 percent. So our goal will be to be a very sustainable property with solar power generating 70 percent of our needs,” he said.
The CZM director noted that developers sought to modify the permit to install solar arrays and a central battery storage area on six parcels to generate approximately 10 percent of their electrical power needs from solar energy.
Hibbert told commissioners that the staff review of the modification requests found the changes would “not substantially alter or modify the scope, nature, or characteristics of the existing permit.”
The board again voted its unanimous approval.
