Legal teams argued over the future of a proposed marina on St. John in a federal courtroom Tuesday. The judge said he wanted lawyers for Summers End Group (SEG) and the Moravian Church — Virgin Islands Conference to explain why the District Court should consider their arguments.
The wranglings over building St. John’s first facility for private vessels and yachts has been going on for about 10 years. Both the church and a separate entity called Save Coral Bay have been challenging the plans in court. As of August, the project also drew scrutiny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Moravian Conference officials have asked the court to grant an injunction, saying the SEG plan was so expansive it would block their attempts to build a marina of their own in Coral Bay. “Plaintiff is an owner of real property adjacent to Coral Bay Harbor … in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, who has been attempting to apply for and obtain a permit to construct a marina in Coral Bay for many years,” says a portion of District Court Case No. 3:22-cv-62.
Lawyers representing developers and the V.I. government said the Moravian Conference had no permit and there was no evidence that they were seeking one. They are asking Chief District Judge Robert Molloy for a dismissal.
The lawyer representing the conference also accused developers and the government of promoting one plan in public but approving a different plan in secret. “That’s not what went to the Legislature; that’s not what went through the public hearing procedure — none of it,” said attorney Mark Hodge.
Hodge also questioned whether the plans complied with federal Coastal Zone Management laws.
Molloy said he wanted to begin by finding out if he had jurisdiction because there was a similar case being heard in the local court. “If there are ongoing state proceedings, then the federal court should abstain until the state proceedings are completed,” the judge said.
Attorneys Boyd Sprehn for Summers End and Christopher Timmons for the V.I. government said Hodge’s arguments were not sufficiently supported by case law.
And, they said, there was no alternative plan that was swapped out for the plan approved by the Legislature in Act. 8407. The act ratified a plan to develop submerged land and prepare the site for construction once the required permits were in place.
It was signed by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. in January 2021.
“The conference could not have been denied due process because the alleged action did not occur; the conference has not demonstrated any injury. It never demonstrated that it has a permit,” said the attorney for SEG.
Sprehn did, however, admit that some changes were made to the Coral Bay marina plans. The changes were presented by developers to Government House and passed along with recommendations to lawmakers. “The Legislature amended the permit to incorporate the changes into 8407,” Sprehn said.
The lawyer for Summers End also apologized to the court, saying the copy of Act 8407 they attached to their filings was incomplete. Only two pages were submitted with their filing, but Sprehn said when he checked again prior to the motions hearing, he found there were 15 pages in all.
Timmons added that the defendants did nothing wrong when they engaged the governor to help move the bill through the Legislature.
Bryan reviewed it, made modifications and submitted it to the Legislature. “There is no statute that prohibits a permittee from seeking direct action,” Timmons said.
He added that the Moravian Church was given adequate notice that Bill No. 33-0428 was coming up for consideration in the 33rd Legislature. “If there is no federal standing, this case must be dismissed. The Moravian Church has had due process. It just didn’t like the ending,” the lawyer for the government said.
The judge did not rule right away but appeared skeptical. He told Hodge to fortify his arguments by citing additional cases where similar circumstances led to successful litigation.
By hearing’s end, it did not appear to an observer that even that would be enough. Sprehn and Timmons told the court that whether the case led the litigation into District Court, it was more likely to make a second appearance in V.I. Supreme Court.
In April 2022, the high court rejected an initial challenge brought by Save Coral Bay, Inc. and its president, David Silverman.
As of late 2024, developers said the marina plans were mainly in place and adequately permitted, and they expected to complete marina construction by 2026.
