Attorney Kevin Rames testified Wednesday to members of the V.I. Planning and Natural Resources Department in favor of a use variance to B-2 (Business-Secondary) for almost three acres of land to construct self-storage units near Home Depot on St. Croix.
Rames, speaking on behalf of CDP LLC, the land owner, explained the land in question is located south and west of the building center. The plan includes one and two-story buildings that will contain a total of 491 units with 12 parking spaces. The construction will use around 6,000 square feet of the 2.71 acre plot of land.
“It will be unlike anything we have here today. State of the art,” Rames said.
According to Rames, the land is now covered with mostly tan-tan and is not in a flood zone, nor are there any endangered cultural or historic features, plants or animals native to the plots. The single-phase development should take around one year with a construction crew of around 100 workers, he said. Afterwards, one employee will manage each building.
The lots directly south of Home Depot include plans for a family wellness center and a children’s playground, Rames said. The storage units will be built west of those two parcels. Since the land is at a lower elevation than houses farther west of the parcels, the storage units will not obstruct the homeowners’ view, Rames said.
During the questioning period of the hearing, Leia LaPlace Matthew, DPNR’s territorial planner, was told by Rames the storage facility will use water from the V.I. Water and Power Authority instead of cisterns.
DPNR’s Ellerton Maynard pointed out that while he was “not trying to derail the project,” the property is in a flood plain and the contractors need to elevate the slab under the buildings and the parking lot that will consist of mostly asphalt, plants and a sidewalk.
Rames explained that CDP LLC will build the facility, and 4 Rivers LLC, of Georgia will pay for the work and take ownership of the property when it is finished according to a pre-existing contract.
After Wednesday’s hearing, DPNR’s Division of Comprehensive and Coastal Zone Planning will review the plan and issue their recommendation to approve, reject or modify the plan by Feb. 6. Then the public will have 30 days to comment in favor or opposing the project before it is submitted to the V.I. Legislature for approval by a committee and the Committee of the Whole.
