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1 Hermon Hill Wind Retrofit and Safe Room Project Update PRESENTED BY DARYL D. JASCHEN DIRECTOR VIRGIN ISLANDS TERRITORIAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY Submitted to SENATOR MARISE C. JAMES, Esq. CHAIRMAN Senate Committee on Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure & Planning Frits E. Lawaetz Legislative Conference Room, St. Croix June 30, 2026 2 | P a g e OPENING COMMENTS 2 Good morning Senator Marise C. James, Esq., Chair of the Committee on Disaster Recovery, 3 Infrastructure & Planning, and all other senators present, members of the 36th legislative staff and 4 those in the viewing and listening audience. I am Daryl D. Jaschen, Director of the Virgin Islands 5 Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA). Today I will provide an update on 6 VITEMA's Hurricane Maria Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) project known as the 7 Hermon Hill Wind Retrofit and Safe Room Project located on the Island of St. Croix. 8 FEDERAL HAZARD MITIGATION FUNDING 9 FEMA approved the Hermon Hill Wind Retrofit and Safe Room Project on April 19, 2020, with 10 approximately $22.51 million in HMGP funding. Since that time, FEMA has approved several 11 amendments to the Scope of Work to refine the project as engineering and federal reviews 12 progressed. These amendments were one of the initial challenges to address key items required by 13 FEMA guidance. The successful processing of these amendments were the results of months of 14 coordination between FEMA and the Territory with the support of the A&E firm for this project 15 Springline Architects LLC. (SLA). Most recently, FEMA issued Amendment No. 4 on July 1, 16 2025, updating the project's engineering, construction, and contingency budgets while maintaining 17 the overall federal investment. 18 REZONING AND FEDERAL CONSISTENCY 19 The project is currently in Phase I, engineering and design. Significant milestones for this project 20 include the following: VITEMA was able to complete the necessary rezoning through the 21 Department of Planning and Natural Resources Petition to Amend the Official Zoning Map No. 22 SCZ-7 on January 26, 2023, plots No.102-A remainder, 102-B, and 102-C Estate Hermon Hill, 23 Company Quarter, St. Croix from R-3 (residential-Medium Density to P (Public) covering a total 24 of 4.579 acres. Rezoning Bill No. 35-0021 was signed by Governor Bryan on May 3, 2025. This 25 rezoning was one of the initial implementation challenges that has been successfully addressed. 26 On May 20, 2025, VITEMA successfully completed the required Federal Consistency 27 Determination (FCD) hearing on project CZM-020 VITEMA EOC Estate Hermon Hill, St. Croix, 28 demolition, and construction project. Accompanying the passing vote by the Board, are fifteen 29 (15) special conditions listed, which VITEMA is responsible for compliance and will be part of 30 the project implementation. 31 ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING DESIGN 32 3 | P a g e Recently Spring Line Architects completed the 60% design along with the required independent 33 peer review. The peer review is a required process to ensure that the designs meet all the necessary 34 requirements as mandated by the FEMA P-361 Safe Rooms for Tornadoes and Hurricanes. SLA 35 is currently working on design adjustments based on the comments received from the Peer review. 36 As of May 30th, approximately $2.4 million has been expended for Architectural and Engineering 37 services supporting project development. 38 39 Phase I engineering activities are scheduled for completion in October 2026. Upon completion of 40 the 100% design package, FEMA will review the Phase I deliverables. Following FEMA approval, 41 the project will advance into Phase II, including procurement, demolition, construction, and project 42 closeout in accordance with the approved schedule. Although this project has required extensive 43 engineering, environmental, regulatory, and FEMA coordination, significant progress has been 44 achieved. VITEMA remains committed to completing the remaining Phase I activities, securing 45 FEMA approval of the final design package, and moving this critical Emergency Operations 46 Center and Safe Room into construction as quickly as federal approvals allow. 47 VITEMA HERMON HILL FACILITY 48 49 Figure 1: VITEMA Hermon Hill Architectural Design Rendering (2026) 50 As shown in the Architectural Design Rendering, figure 1, the current building design shows a 51 three-story south wing (48 ft tall), a four-story north wing (68 ft tall), with a corridor connecting 52 the two wings, totaling 25,000 sq-feet. Due to the change in elevation slope, the four-story north 53 wing would be equal in height to the 48-feet south wing. As this project is a Retrofit of an existing 54 4 | P a g e structure, FEMA requires that design engineers provide design options that utilize the existing 55 footprint. Under this constraint, the A&E firm is permitted to go up in elevation, as in additional 56 floors, but may not expand beyond the current two-dimension outline. 57 58 The new VITEMA Hermon Hill facility has been designed to support daily emergency 59 management operations while providing surge capacity during hurricanes and other disasters. The 60 facility will support (1) an eight (8) workstation 24-hour 9-1-1 Emergency Communications 61 Center (ECC), (2) emergency operations center (EOC) for territorial, federal, private-sector, and 62 nonprofit partners, (3) an emergency public information activities center, and (4) a continuity of 63 operations location for government functions. Supporting infrastructure includes emergency 64 power systems, resilient communications capabilities, mobile response assets, and sufficient 65 parking for routine and emergency operations. 66 67 Parking onsite accommodates 135 vehicles and room for an additional 64 vehicles overflow. Part 68 of the parking area would serve to hold a mobile EOC, four-mobile 100kw generators, and two 69 mobile light-sets. VITEMA has a fleet of approximately 10 vehicles which will be parked at the 70 facility. There are normally 10 visitors to VITEMA per day, Monday – Friday, but there may be 71 an increased number of visitors during key events, such as curfew pass issue and classroom training 72 events. VITEMA will not conduct any post disaster public food or water commodities distribution 73 from this facility. 74 75 The facility will have a maximum of 8-individuals operating 24-hrs a day in capacity as 9-1-1 76 operators. During normal operations Monday-Friday, 8 am – 5 pm, an additional 52-indiviudulas 77 will work out of the facility in the capacity of operations, planning, logistics, admin & finance, 78 public information, communications, hazard-mitigation, and public assistance. During times when 79 VITEMA offers classroom training to GVI agencies and strategic partners an additional 40- 80 individuals will be at the facility. Our federal partners, primarily FEMA, will have office space 81 available for their use as part of the full time Caribbean Area Office staff or during surge operations 82 in preparation for, or response to, a disaster event, such as a major Hurricane threat to the Territory. 83 84 5 | P a g e During a major communications outage or training for an outage, the Bureau of Information 85 Technology or Private Sector partners, may temporarily erect satellite dishes and mobile 86 communication towers. Normal 24-hr radio communications support 9-1-1 operations, and back- 87 up communication capabilities include devices connected to several antennas approximately 10 ft 88 in height. No commercial cellular towers are identified to be placed at the facility site but an 89 emergency private provider cell on wheels (COWs) may be required if 9-1-1 communication 90 outages occur. There is currently no plan or funding to place a helicopter landing zone at Hermon 91 Hill. Emergency backup-power is provided by two (2) generators (primary and backup) housed in 92 a separate building next to the main facility. FEMA does not fund any solar micro grid temporary 93 power solutions as part of the project. 94 CHALLENGES 95 During both hearings on the Plot Rezoning and on Federal Consistency Determination, a concern 96 was raised regarding having an Owner Representative at the Hermon Hill site to ensure monitoring 97 and enforcement of the special conditions listed by the Federal Consistency Determination Board 98 as well as availability by neighboring residents to address any concerns. VITEMA has 99 authorization to hire an Owner Representative who will be located at the job site during demolition 100 and construction phases. The funding for this position is 100% federal. 101 102 Figure 2: Hermon Hill Wind Retro Fit / Safe Room and Site Stabilization Estimate Costs (Feb 2026) 103 104 While the testimony so far is focused on the costs, as shown in Figure 2, for the A&E, demolition, 105 and construction costs, which are all Federally funded, there is an additional federally funded 106 project which supports site stabilization and storm water management. This project is funded at 107 6 | P a g e $3,374,050 and is scheduled to be completed concurrently with the construction of the VITEMA 108 Hermon Hill facility. However, there are additional costs associated with the Hermon Hill facility 109 which are yet to have funding identified. These overall unfunded items are for Furniture, Fixtures, 110 and Equipment (FFE) and were identified during the design phase with an additional total cost 111 estimate of $7,208,035. FFE costs include office furniture, phone system, electronic security 112 system, computer workstations, video equipment, backup power supply and physical security gate 113 access. 114 Once the facility is operational, VITEMA has identified an annual Operations and Maintenance 115 Budget requirement of $280,000. This cost estimate covers HVAC, plumbing, electrical & 116 lighting, generator services, fire safety systems, security, communications, elevator, landscaping, 117 stormwater, cleaning, and parking areas. 118 Outside plant installation and connections for water, sewer, electrical, and telecommunications is 119 being coordinated through the Office of Disaster Recovery (ODR). The ODR efforts ensure overall 120 St. Croix interagency coordination is tracked and work assignments are scheduled to meet 121 construction timelines and certificates of occupancy needs. 122 CLOSING COMMENTS 123 In closing and as a summary of this testimony, and I want to emphasize, the VITEMA Hermon 124 Hill facility is being designed and funded to comply with FEMA P-361 Safe Room standards. But 125 unlike other safe rooms being built in the territory, this is not a public congregate shelter. This 126 facility, when needed to serve as a safe room, will be for the protection of 9-1-1 operators, local 127 government officials, federal partners, agency representatives, and military staff, who are on the 128 Island of St. Croix in preparation for, or responding to, a Territorial or Federally declared disaster. 129 Committee Chair, Senator Marise C. James, Esq. and other committee members, this concludes 130 my testimony and I am prepared for your questions. 131