USVI Public Records

Document text

VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS Committee of the Whol Legislature USVI March 13, 2026 · 1.0 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/nqA68xYTPDs Status This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of a public proceeding. It is a finding aid, not an official record of the Legislature. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. Speakers are not identified: automatic speaker labelling was measured unusable and removed. Public record The underlying proceeding is a public record of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. 3 V.I.C. § 881(a) defines public records to include all records and documents of or belonging to this Territory or any branch of government, or any "department, board, council or committee of any branch of government" · which names legislative committees by category. § 881(b) gives every citizen the right to examine and copy such records, and the news media the right to publish them. (The open-meetings chapter, 1 V.I.C. § 254, does NOT reach the Legislature: § 253(b) expressly excludes it and its Standing and Special Committees. § 881 does, and it is § 881 that confers the right to copy and publish.) The Legislature broadcast this proceeding publicly itself. The source recording is not ours, is not hosted here, and remains with its publisher at the link above. Rights To what we added · the transcription, its arrangement and its description · we assert nothing. A verbatim transcript is mechanical rather than authored, so there is likely nothing in it to own; to the extent any copyright is nonetheless found to subsist, it is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. Music. Music. 0:00:00 Music. Good morning again, ladies and gentlemen. [2 such phrases repeated 9 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:01:00 We had some technical difficulties with internet and we were able to resolve. So the committee, the whole meeting is back on the record. We'll now proceed with our next testifier, Senator Hubert Frederick. You're recognized for your three minutes. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. A pleasant good morning listening and viewing audience, colleagues, testifiers, my office and central staff. 0:04:34 Thank you. Let me start off by asking a very basic question. And this is to the gums. You recently purchased this property or was this property? Did you purchase this property with the intent to rezone it or you had other investment options when you bought it? Congratulations, by the way. Good morning, Senator. Asha Clinton and Gums. 0:05:08 We recently purchased this property as our primary property, our primary residence. We actually lived and rented in this same property. And when the opportunity arose to purchase it, we did. When we began the process, it was four dwelling units, non-conforming in agriculture one. And we now seek to conform within the zoning regulations. And typically when you look at zoning applications, you're looking to make sure it makes sense. To me, this makes a lot of sense. If I bought a piece of property and it was zoned improperly in this case, then our laws provide for this process. I'm sorry you have to pay so much to go through this process, but I went through it. That's why. But unfortunately, you're correcting something, at least for your ears now to enjoy. And congratulations. And I will definitely be supporting this measure. I don't see anything wrong with it. 0:05:42 The issue with the yarvests is my only concern. But it's going to be a fine property. Be careful with the cisterns because once you start adding laundries in there, the water consumption is going to be substantial. So be careful. I know you have 0:06:48 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 8 Legislature USVI · Committee of the Whol three cisterns, right? One minute. One minute. Yeah. Just be careful. Yeah. Your water consumption is going to go up with the laundry. And then secondly, I want to talk about the bill number 360269. I've seen a very basic rezoning request. I don't have any problems with it. I just want to find out a little bit more about the construction, about the building that's going to be placed there so we get a good understanding about the size and the construction type. I'm Carol Overson, McGregor, Deputy Commissioner of Transportation. The building is a concrete block building. The roof is a steel frame with concrete. It's approximately 2,100 square feet. Okay. Great. And in terms of it, is there any air conditioning that's going to be for the passengers or just for the workers that are going to be there? Time. 0:07:21 The offices and ticket area will be air conditioned. The space for the passenger lounge will be open air. Open air. Okay. And last but not least, Mr. Chair, because of this being Sonny's property, which is a very Sonny Barnes, a very popular person here, we know Sonny is a disabled person. So what's the accommodation going to be for people with disability? 0:08:06 The entire facility will be ADA accessible. Compliant? It's a requirement, yes. Okay, great. Thank you very much. I appreciate your response. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Senator Frederick. Senator Carla Joseph, you're recognized for your three minutes. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. A pleasant good day to everyone. I want to first begin my line of questioning by asking the Gums, relative to this property you are proposing to be rezoned today. What was the impetus of your request? Is it you have to get financing? 0:08:37 Because I already saw that you purchased it from the estate of Vincent Clendenin. And I hope it's the same Beef Clendenin that I know. So tell us what the impetus of the rezoning was. What motivated you to try to get it into conformity? Because this is a non-conforming. Thank you for the question, Senator. I think it was important to my family, not only as I'm going to consider us young, young Virgin Islanders, first time home owners, that we are able to pass down to generations and build generational wealth, but do it the right way. I don't always get everything right. But what I do know that I didn't want to live one more day in a non-conforming property like so many around us. So the process was arduous, but DPNR helped out a lot. Thank you, Mr. Samuel and Ms. Laplace. 0:09:20 And here we are today. Okay, because with the variance, even though you had a variance, it was still in compliance. Yes, it was still in compliance based on the use that you have. Ms. Laplace, is it because they are changing the use of it and expanding the number of units while we are shifting the variance to a rezoning? Thanks for the question, Senator. 0:10:29 It was actually the density that was non-compliant. The density. Okay. And what was the density then with the variance? It was multifamily, so four dwelling units. And the A1, as well as the variance allowing it to be developed under R2 only allows two dwelling units. Okay. So they are expanding and increasing the amount of dwelling units. So that's why we are going to have the rezoning. I just wanted to make it clear that that's the reason. 0:10:57 The variance was sufficient, but it isn't sufficient for what they're proposing now with the increase in the units. Correct? Correct. Okay. Wonderful. So we are going to go into Bill number 360269. Ms. McGregor, is this area located in a flood zone? 30 seconds. 0:11:28 Good morning, Senator. The west side of the property does have a waterway. Okay. Because I looked at the map and it looks like it's in a flood zone. Mr. Plath, maybe you could shed some light. Is the property that is currently going to be rezoned in a flood zone? Yes, Senator. It is in a flood zone, so we would have to follow the flood regulations. Now, that was my concern and how that would play out with your funders. Because typically, with your funding, the federal human beings, they typically don't want you to have mitigation. 0:12:00 Did you have conversations with them relative to utilizing this property? In fact, knowing that is in a flood zone and would they still be able to honor the grant, knowing that the property that you're going to be developing is in a flood zone? Time. Yes, Senator. Go ahead. 0:12:39 We did go through the NEPA process for this project. This project went through NEPA, I think, in 2016, 2017. Just one moment. NEPA is an acronym. Environmental. Okay, so just break it down because we have lay people here. Okay. Some of us know what NEPA is, some of us don't, and we have a listening audience. Mr. Chairman, I also know that typical funding sources with the federal and the use of property in flood zones, sometimes they have a little bit of an issue. But if you're saying that they do not and you went through those process, I don't have an issue with it then. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for the leeway. 0:13:05 Thank you, Senator Carla. Joseph, Ms. Laplace-Matthews, I wanted to ask you to kind of get into the thinking of the planning office. I know that bus terminals are permitted in commercial as well as I-2 districts. Did the planning office evaluate those designations for this site, and why did you ultimately reject those in favor of a variance on P public land? Thank you for the question, Senator. So, yes, they were evaluated, but being that this is a government operation on 0:13:49 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 8 Legislature USVI · Committee of the Whol government-owned land, the code does state that that type of property needs to be zoned P public. Thank you for your response. Senator Nobel Francis, you are recognized for your three minutes. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Good morning to everyone. I want to also join in extending congratulations to the Gums and their ability to acquire this property. That is commendable. Mr. Gums, or Mr. Gums, you spoke about, at least in the testimony, there was some indication that you'll be able to complete the work that's required within two weeks. Is that a reasonable time or that was an error in transition? 0:14:34 Yeah, that should be enough time. Any little, you can't foresee anything that you would be, you know, changing or anything like that, but an average two weeks would be fine. Okay, that's going to be remarkable in construction work. Two weeks is an amazing time to be able to complete a project, but that's fine. I mean, so I look forward to that. So, I don't have any much more questions in respect to that. Moving on to the request from the Department of Public Works, Assistant Commissioner McGregor, you or Mr. Foucault, either one of you, what is the timeline for this proposed rebuild? 0:15:09 The timeline is 12 months. Twelve months to begin when? Once the construction contract is executed. Okay, so everything is in place to make that happen? All of the necessary permits and everything else is already in place? This is the last part for that, yes. This is the last part, okay. And what about, you said that there is a $1.69 million funding available to assist with this. Is there any governmental, central government match? 0:15:56 No, we don't have to have a local government match. This is all you require. And what is the square footage of that property, the proposed facility? The structure itself will be approximately 2,100 square feet. One minute. And what is the security mechanism to ensure, I heard you said that you might be leaving buses on the property, what is going to be the security mechanism? You're going to have surveillance cameras in place, you're going to have fencing, what's going to ensure that there is limited vandalism to the property, as well as to the buses that may be left on the property? For every public transportation facility, we have to have security in place. 0:16:31 It includes fencing, as well as camera system for security, as we can also include alarms as well. 30 seconds. Yeah, very well. I believe that both of these projects seem to be simple enough and something that I could support. So, you know, at the appropriate time, of course, there's no vote in this committee, but at the appropriate time, I'll be supporting both of these projects. Thank you very much. Thank you for your responses. And thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the time. Thank you very much, Senator Francis. Senator Clifford Joseph, you're recognized for your three minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 0:17:14 And good morning to everybody in the room. Good morning to the listening public. And congratulations to the Gums family for the new acquiring of this home. The only question I have for DP and R around the home is, it's an R3. Would they be able, if wanted, when you zoned somebody R3, could they now, instead of being 3D4 apartments? They would have to go through a development review process, but R3 could allow, could allow greater density. Okay, good. 0:17:49 So, this is now for, again for you, for DP and R. The, at SLAB, the construction is going to be, you're going to demolition first or you're going to, you're building behind of the present? It would be demolition first, Senator. It would be demolition first, Senator. Okay, good. So, so I guess with, you're saying that it cleared the flood zone, so you're going to be up to height to suit the flood zone? Yes, they're, they're required to meet a certain height. Okay, good. I really don't have a lot more questions, because the questions were already asked, but. 0:18:27 Okay, I'm back in, I'll go back to you again in St. Thomas. You said that you had, you had mentioned 20 rezoning have, has historically been granted in a state, Smith Bay. Can you explain the types of rezoning that you had over there? It has been arranged from agricultural to low density residential to medium density residential to business and commercial industrial. So everybody came in to go in compliance, so you guys had to go out there and stop some folks, how would that went? 0:19:06 Some were to come in compliance, others were to do future projects. One minute. Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have no more questions, but again, congratulations to the Gums family and congratulations and thank you for being honest and coming to the government to be in compliance. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Senator Clifford A. Joseph. Senator Ray Fonseca, you are recognized for your three minutes. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. 0:19:48 And a pleasant good morning to the viewing and listening audience, the testifiers on both islands and colleagues. Okay, bill number 36-0267. Just to bring it into perspective, this is when you're going Smith B. Road, you're going from, say you're coming from Tutu, you're going to Red Hook. Right over there by, excuse me, pavilion and pools. You're driving to the south pavilion and pool is right to the east. 0:20:21 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 8 Legislature USVI · Committee of the Whol This property is located on the west. Nice area. And I also want to congratulate both of the owners. Because you see, this is what is so good about the Virgin Islands. This here is home ownership for we. There is one of us. This is home ownership. This is what we love. And they got a home where they got a little rent and thing they could collect to help with a mortgage. This is entrepreneurship. This is awesome. Congratulations. So this is definitely a yes, even though we don't have any vote on this committee, but I was so, you know, impressed to hear from Mr. Samuel that there was no opposition. 0:21:06 There was also no post hearing comments from anyone in the area. And it's in compliance with the land and water use plan. So this property is going to go from A1 to B3, R3. Don't, don't stop planting the little thing. No, you know, we need to plant a little bit because they got a deal where they're going to be burning over there in the Bovoni dump, the Bovoni landfill. And I know over there could use some soil, some compost. One minute. So this is a good idea with this, this community here, residential medium density. Congratulations. Thank you. I want to go to the next bill. And congratulations also to Sonny Barnes. I know Mr. Sonny Barnes real well. I know him a long, long time. 0:21:58 A real outstanding Cusion citizen. I saw him the other day, as a matter of fact, when I was over to the Agricultural Fair. Me and my staff, Raphael Connero, we saw him, we greet him. We had a little time to get a hang him. Congratulations. That one also seems to be a good use and it's going to be fully compliant for the handicapped, the disabled. So these are two good bills. We don't vote in this committee. And I'm definitely in support of them. And congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chair for the time. Thank you very much, Senator Ray Fonseca. Senator Marvin Blyden, you're recognized for your three minutes. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Good morning to my colleagues. Listening to you and audiences, Central Staff, good morning testifiers. And thank you for your testimonies. 0:22:57 Um, these two bills are numbering for me. Um, definitely I will be supporting both of them. Um, in respect to the, uh, bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. The bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Uh, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Uh, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. 0:23:51 Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Um, the bill in three days. Are there other areas. But in the same area. You're going right now. Is it further out. You're going. Our intent is to serve communities. That are not currently served. 0:24:27 Okay, very well. What about. So further out. What about. Same. Same there. Are you going to those developments. That they're billing right now. I'm planning on billing. In terms of. New development. When it comes to housing. Etc. Because I know we have been. Having that discussion for some time. In terms of. Like for instance. Megan's Junction. Those folks have a hard time. Getting to and from. In terms of. That the daily. Routines going to work. Yes. Senator. How far. Are we out with that. We are currently. Um. Testing the route. To see where the buses. Can actually. 0:24:58 Maneuver. Safely. Um. On that route. And we are looking at. Other areas as well. Okay. I look forward to hearing more. On that. Okay. And. I look forward to. You say one year. One year. In terms of the. Plan. Um. Work. Um. I know what that looks like. Usually. Say less. I won't say much. But I look forward to. Um. The completion of that. In respect to the Gums. Good. Morning. To the Gums. And um. Congratulations on your investment. Of course. You know. 0:25:30 Getting a property at home. Is the most important investment. You and your family can ever make. So. Congratulations on that front. Um. I don't have much questions. But let me ask. Um. In respect to. Your investment. I know you plan. Your. You plan to. Expand. Do you have a plan moving forward. In terms of how. What that expansion will look like. One minute. How much more units. We talking to. Let me. Let me. Let me hear from Mr. Gums. I don't want to hear from Ms. Gums. I spoke to you in person already. Let me hear from Mr. Gums. I want to hear from him. Talk to me. Okay. So. Basically. 0:26:04 We have a plan. You saw. On the PowerPoint. How we will divide. Downstairs. From the existing. Footprint. To what we're gonna. Um. Plan on moving forward. It's not. Nothing. Complex. Is just. Converting. The washroom. Into a kitchen. And dividing. The three bedroom. Two bathroom. Downstairs. Into. One bedroom. One bathroom. Two bedrooms. One bathroom. It's a. Quick fast. Easy. 0:26:36 That's what I'm talking about. And also. I would also. 30 seconds. Advise. In my opinion. Which we need to do. All of us. At Virgin Island. Which we don't do. Usually. Once we buy a home. Please. Please. Assure that. It's protected. It's a 0:27:05 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 8 Legislature USVI · Committee of the Whol planning. And do what you have to do. To make sure it's protected. And it goes down. From generation. To generation. Without having any issues. Moving forward. That's critical. For me. And we need to actually. Start doing that. Because we don't do that enough. And that's why we have so much. Blighted homes. In the territory. And many homes. Sitting there. In terms of. All kind of issues. And family issues. So make sure. Please. Please. Take care of that. Up front. Your new home. With your family. Thank you so much. Mr. Chair for the time. And thank you. For your responses. Thank you. Thank you very much. Senator. Marvin Blyden. Senator. Avery Lewis. You're recognized. For your. Three minutes. Mr. Secretary. Thank you. Again. Good morning. Good morning colleagues. Good morning. To the testifiers. Good morning. To the people. Of the Virgin Islands. I really didn't have. Much questions. Can my colleagues. Already. Asked everything. Possibly. Salwin Boom. The man. Yes sir. Come here boy. You're Yaris. I was glad to hear. 0:27:53 You have sufficient parking. And you know. In time come. I will support this. Measure. You know. In the Virgin Islands. We talk about. Shortage of space. And. Lacking place of rent. And here. We have a young couple. That. You know. See the need. To fill a gap. The one thing. Is. Is. The one thing. Is. The one thing. I'll say. Mr. Boom. And. 0:28:25 Ms. Gumbs. Is. To make sure. That the property. Is fully. ADA. Compliant. You know. We're getting older. We're getting younger. That would help us. And help you too. When that time comes. Um. Ms. McGregor. Good morning. Again. Good morning. Um. You talked about. Your funding. So everything. Is in place. And ready to go. You have. Approximately. One year. 0:28:50 Uh. Completion. From start to finish. Right. Yes. Senator. We designed the. Structure. So that it's. Low maintenance. Completely concrete. Okay. Structure. Um. So we expect. To be completed. Within a 12 month. The design. The planning. Everything. It's already designed. Yes. The president put the ink on. And the governor put the ink on. We're ready to go. Ms. Laplace. You're going to hold them up. Right. Yes. 0:29:17 Senator. Good. And the one thing. I'm glad. I heard one of my colleagues. Asking you. Is about security. Because I think. That's one of the major problems. We had this weekend. With WAPA. Somebody went in. And vandalized. The plan. You know. I don't think. That's sufficient security. For us to find out. You know. I mean. The police is. Doing the investigation. But please. We in the community. We'll be begging. For things. And then when the government. Provided. Some mystery. So whoever. Come and destroy it. And take away this privilege. From us. Take away this. Necessity. From us. 0:29:45 And you know. Again. All the way for me. Please. Yes. The new buses. You have coming. Make sure. ADA compliant. Well. I know. You always try your best. With that. You know. And so forth. So actually. To continue that. The housing. Chairman. Talked about. Different routes. One of the things. I'll ask. I know. We place. The bus stop. Where. Of the hospital. I've never really seen. It being utilized. As yet. For your. 0:30:21 For your buses. The corridor. It's becoming like. A medical corridor. Now. You know. With the. Celestina. White. Housing community. Back there. And so forth. One minute. So that road. Is serviced in a.m. Midday. And in the evening. As well. We can go to the. Senior facility there. And I don't know. Who owns the property. But if. Public works. Have a little. Say in it. 0:30:52 Maybe at some point. In there. We could put a little. One. In the element. So I just. Actually. To. Let's look out for them. And those. At Megan's Bay. And. You know. The different. Junctions. What he talked about. Let's see what we could do. No, we don't have enough funding right now for fixed route services on the weekend, but we do continue to provide the paratransit service, which is an 80 accessible service on Saturdays. 30 seconds. I know that's for those who call and make preparations. 0:31:18 I don't know how exactly we go, but explain to me. It is a service demand service, so we provide, paratransit provides services to seniors and persons with disabilities. And you have to be certified, and you call in, make an appointment, and then we provide the service. And the one good thing I'll end, Ms. McGregor, is saying that I'm really glad that we're utilizing government land, because I'm tired of people coming in here now and saying, we're taking government land, we're leasing it and we're selling it or something, and then we gotta go rent. But I'm glad that we're fully utilizing the government land. 0:31:53 Time? So, at the appropriate time, you have my vote. Thank you. And the government, you have my vote. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Senator Lewis. I wanted to recognize the presence of a colleague, Senator Alma Francis Heiliger. Welcome, Senator Francis Heiliger, and we will mark Senator Francis Heiliger as present. And we will, Senator Francis Heiliger, you may proceed with your testimony. 0:32:31 Three minutes, we're going to give you a special three minutes today. Listen, I feel special today. Well, I was on my way here, I was listening because I was a little bit late because I had a previous engagement, but I made it. On my way here 0:33:12 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 5 of 8 Legislature USVI · Committee of the Whol while I was listening to the testimony and what everyone was saying, I was very happy. But you know me, I'm an agriculture queen. I love all things agriculture. So, when I first heard we were trying to move away from agriculture, I was like, oh, I went into a little panic. But I started to do some research around, you know, surrounding lands. I started to look at what it was being utilized for. Sometimes you have to look at things for the greater good. What benefits and what we as a government probably need to do a little bit more to push agriculture and maybe not stymie specific projects, so they could advance. So I, from everything that I heard, everything that I read, I do not have a problem with the project. I think it would be an enhancement. I think it would help. I think it would benefit the people of the territory and those that will have access to additional housing, so it's a definite plus for me. So you don't have much complaints today. When it comes to the bus stop, that's not even a conversation, to be honest with you. As a government, we have to provide services. And if we see a need, we need to step in, fix the need. It's that simple. 0:33:51 We clearly have people, the buses running along this route. We need to make sure that there's a place they could sit, they could stop, they could shelter while they wait on these buses. I would probably have a greater conversation along the lines of how long the buses take to come because that's a conversation that I hear from my constituents all the time. the timeliness of the bus route and how quickly they come. Sometimes people are on it for hours. So while we are stepping up to make sure we have a place for them to be picked up, I think we also need to be stepping up to make sure we pick them up in a timely manner. So we can't forget that part. So on that note, I am in full support of these two pieces of legislation. And I return the balance of my time, Mr. President. Thank you. Oh, thank you very much for your generosity, Senator Alba Francis. 0:34:53 I know a couple of my colleagues wanted to see the rendering of the bus terminal. I don't know if we showed it initially, but Amidia, if you can provide us with that, the rendering of the bus terminal, that would be greatly appreciated. Okay. Nicely, nicely done. Looks great. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. 0:35:51 If only all matters before us, these zonings were as straightforward as the ones that, the two that we just heard. life would be easier and stress-free. So I absolutely am supportive of both initiatives. Kudos to Mr. and Ms. Gums on this very important property acquisition. And kudos to you too for striving to be in compliance with the law before embarking on your project. You could have easily proceeded. 0:36:17 I don't think anybody would even know what was happening. But it speaks to you and who you are that you chose to, you know, do the proper legwork to ensure that you are in compliance with the law. I probably had like one or two questions. I heard my colleague to the left just ask about ADA compliance. I wanted to ask the Deputy Commissioner, Overson, about the design that we just saw, whether or not it was ADA compliant and if they were sheltered. I think from what I saw, the answer is yes, sheltered waiting areas and safe pedestrian pathways given the anticipated 50 passenger usage. 0:37:00 Yes, Senator. The entire facility is 80 accessible. It's surrounded by a sidewalk for pedestrians. And the bus route is clearly marked as well as crosswalks will be clearly marked as well. Excellent. Excellent. I know how will traffic circulation be managed on and off the site to avoid congestion or safety issues for neighboring businesses and markets, especially during peak shopping and commuting hours? 0:37:56 So the property will be clearly marked entrance only and exit only. We will not have a two-way traffic flow at any particular entrance or exit. It would be a one-way traffic flow. Excellent. I have a young lady, an older lady. She's a little older than me. So she shops at Cost You Less. 0:38:34 This is just a pivot. And every time I see her, she asks me, when is Public Works going to have a shed right there on the Weymouth Highway so that when persons are waiting for the bus, either heading east or west, so they will be in a sheltered area? I guess similar to what maybe a scaled-down version of what you're doing now? Is that something that is on the radar? 0:39:01 With our transit plan update, we are going to take a look at bus stop locations, bus shelter locations and see where it's possible to add additional structures. We're going to do a comprehensive analysis or assessment. Yes, comprehensive analysis. I hope she's listening. Thank you very much for that, Commissioner. Point of information, Senator Marvin Blyton. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before we finish, I just wanted to ask the GOMS. 0:39:31 Kerry was on my mind, but I didn't ask the question. The question is, did you, because my colleagues and I have always supported housing on first-time homebuyers, and we actually did a bill for first-time homebuyer program here in Nisbury, and it went to AHFA. Did you apply for any program to assist you in your most important endeavor? Because it's important that our people utilize those programs and get assistance. And did you apply for any of those programs? 0:40:02 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 6 of 8 Legislature USVI · Committee of the Whol Yes, we did apply for the SLICE program. Okay, very well. And, okay, good to know that at least one of ours got assistance. Thank you so much. I'm not going to go any further. Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, but I believe, did you, did you get the... Absolutely. That's what I thought. I can just wrap up statement before we conclude. So I'm going to start with, in the same order that we begun, we began, I should say, Ms. Laplace. 0:40:32 Good day. Just a little note that with the comprehensive land of water use plan, we do need to start looking comprehensively and long-range with our zoning. Two things that come to my mind is rather than these piecemeal rezonings, we have to do a mass rezonings that will require staffing and funding for the division. And the other thing that we would have to look at is the P-Public zoning where it is recognized that changes are needed to the table of permitted uses. We have an example with Public Works, we have many examples where government operations have been occurring and sometimes the property is not zoned P-Public, other times it is zoned, but it's not allowing the use that they're doing. 0:41:04 That's it. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'll tell Commissioner Oriel you made a good, strong pitch for staffing at DPNR. Deputy Commissioner Overson. Deputy Commissioner Overson: Thank you, Senate President Potter, and thank you for the opportunity to come in and testify for the improvements that we are making at the Lorraine Bus Terminal. It is a discretionary grant that funded this project. Thank you. 0:41:47 Deputy Commissioner Overson: Thank you very much, Deputy Commissioner. We're going to move to St. Croix, St. Thomas, sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Gumbs. You decide who will be the spokesperson. Deputy Commissioner Overson: I want to take the lead a lot of times. Deputy Commissioner Overson: Thank you, Mr. Gumbs. Deputy Commissioner Overson: I'd like to thank the Senate and everyone, Ms. Laplace, Mr. Samuel, for assisting us. Deputy Commissioner Overson: And everyone that made this possible, knowing that I could sleep well, knowing that we are in compliance and we don't have to worry about anything in the future for all our future generations. Deputy Commissioner Overson: Thank you very much, Mr. Gumbs. Deputy Commissioner Overson: Ladies and gentlemen, the committee, the whole stands in the recess for five minutes. Deputy Commissioner Overson: Thank you, Mr. Gumbs. 0:42:18 Deputy Commissioner Overson: Thank you, Mr. Gumbs. Thank you. [3 such phrases repeated 45 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:43:12 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 0:54:53 Thank you. Thank you. 0:56:23 Thank you. Thank you. 0:57:23 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 0:58:23 People named in this transcript SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered. 5x Senator Alma Francis-Heyliger heard in this transcript as: Alma Francis Heiliger, Francis Heiliger 4x Senator Novelle Francis heard in this transcript as: Alba Francis, Francis, Nobel Francis 3x Senator Clifford Joseph heard in this transcript as: Clifford A. Joseph 3x Senator Hubert Frederick heard in this transcript as: Frederick 3x Senator Marvin Blyden heard in this transcript as: Marvin Blyton 3x Senator Ray Fonseca 2x Senator Avery Lewis heard in this transcript as: Lewis 2x Senator Carla Joseph Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 7 of 8 Legislature USVI · Committee of the Whol 2x Commissioner Jean-Pierre Oriel heard in this transcript as: Oriel Bills and acts referred to Matched by number against our own acts corpus. The number is what the recognition heard, so it may be wrong; where it resolved, the title is the one the Legislature gave the act. Referred to but not found in our acts corpus: Bill 36-0269, Bill 36-0267 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 8 of 8