A Superior Court judge ruled against a suit seeking to force the Virgin Islands government to protect a remote St. John inlet.
Boaters flocked to Round Bay, at East End, St. John, during pandemic-related restrictions that limited access to out-of-the-way bays in the British Virgin Islands. People living around the bay, including Ronald and Kathleen Vargo, documented bad boater behavior and beseeched the Department of Planning and Natural Resources to enforce safety and environmental protection rules.
The Vargos and others sent evidence of boaters dropping anchor on seagrass and coral, damaging a historic shipwreck, dumping garbage, and speeding through the area — disturbing and possibly killing sea turtles. Not mentioned in the suit was loud, late-night partying out of place in the placid areas.
Judge Denise M. Francois struck an unusually poetic tone in rejecting the Vargo’s March 2022 lawsuit seeking to compel DPNR action.
“Plaintiffs … have demonstrated at trial distressing and deleterious harm to themselves and other Virgin Islands residents and visitors as well as to the wildlife and natural environment of one of St. John’s treasured and cherished arcadian bays. However, for the reasons discussed below, the court is unable to provide relief,” Francois wrote in the July 14 ruling. “Plaintiffs the Vargos are concerned citizens, rightfully protective of the pristine environment of St. John and laudably concerned for the harms and dangers facing themselves and their fellow community members.”
While the judge recognized Round Bay as an ideal rural paradise, she said the court lacked the legal basis and jurisdiction to force DPNR to protect the bay.
The five-count suit sought to have DPNR enforce the Mooring Act, designate anchorages, and better inform boaters about existing laws. The suit would also have had DPNR install buoys, markings, and moorings in compliance with coastal zone management rules. Lastly, the suit alleged DPNR “failed to abate a public nuisance.”
While the lifting of COVID restrictions opened other bays, relieving congestion, and a planned floating restaurant has been nixed, the judge said the Vargos were still rightly aggrieved.
“The Vargos seek equitable relief in this court on behalf of themselves and other residents to remedy the environmental damage, flouting of marine regulations, dangerous boating practices, and contentious social dynamic they have witnessed which has been brought on by Round Bay’s transformation from a remote and arcadian paradise to a popular destination for Virgin Islanders and tourists alike. Understandably concerned for the harm to the environment and the danger to people, and aggrieved at the disruption of the peaceful community they love, the Vargos seek declaratory judgement, injunction, and the writ of mandamus to force DPNR into action.,” Judge Francois wrote.
“While the court is aware of the distress and harm brought on by the influx of boaters to Round Bay, the court lacks the legal basis to provide the relief requested,” she wrote in her order dismissing the suit.
While unable to order DPNR to comply, the judge said the factual complaints were now part of the public record, which has spurred DPNR to pay attention.
