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TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 1 GOVERNMENT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF COMPREHENSIVE & COASTAL ZONE PLANNING --- PUBLIC HEARING TEAMS VIDEO/AUDIO CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY, January 28, 2026 10:15 a.m. to 10:52 a.m. --- STAFF PRESENT GAIL PAGAN, Planning Technician KESHOI SAMUEL, Planning Technician LEIA LaPLACE, Territorial Planner PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. P.O. Box 11303 St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 00801 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 2 I N D E X ITEM DESCRIPTION PAGE No. 1 Opening Statements by Gail Pagan 3 No. 2 CCZP0118-25: CDP, LLC requesting a 5 use variance to the B-2 (Business- Secondary/Neighborhood) zoned Plot No. 295-D-2 Estate Barren Spot, King Quarter, St. Croix. The purpose of the request it to allow "Warehouse and Storage Services (General)." No. 3 Staff Question and Answer Period 16 No. 4 DPNR Question and Answer Period 19 No. 5 Closing Statements by Attorney Rames 24 (Public Hearing Adjourned) --- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 3 PROCEEDINGS MS. PAGAN: Good morning. Before we begin, I would like to address some housekeeping measures. Other than the presenter and stenographer, everyone else should have their cameras off and mics muted. The stenographer needs to be on so that she can quickly let us know if she cannot hear or need something to be repeated. I am Planning Technician Gail Pagan in the Division of Comprehensive and Coastal Zone Planning within the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, and I will be serving as the chair for this public hearing. With me today are Miss Leia LaPlace, our Territorial Director, and Mr. Keshoi Samuel, Planning Technician. MR. RAMES: May we begin? MS. LaPLACE: So let me acknowledge other DPNR staff that are present. We have Mr. Maynard, our Flood Plain Manager. We have Mr. Ray Clarke from our executive office. I think that's it from the DPNR side. MR. RAMES: Excellent. Well, my name is Kevin Rames. I'm an attorney. MS. PAGAN: Just one moment. We are here pursuant to Title 29, Chapter 3, Sections 238 and 239 of the Virgin Islands Code, which provide for the amendment of the zoning maps and the conduct of public hearings on petitions to amend zoning maps. Once 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 4 the public hearing is complete, we have 30 days by law to prepare a recommendation report which goes to the Commissioner for signature. Once he has signed off on the recommendation report, we forward a copy to the Legislature and the applicant. The Legislature will call a Committee of the Whole public hearing based on their schedule. DPNR has to appear and read the report into the record of that hearing. Following the Legislature's Committee of the Whole hearing, the Legislature will then schedule a session to vote on the request, if a senator has sponsored a bill. Before we begin, I would like to review the procedure that we will be following. First, the applicant will present their request and intention to develop the property. Upon completion of their presentation, staff will then ask questions of the applicant. Any letters on file in support of or in opposition to the proposed zoning amendment will be read into the record. The floor will then be opened to members of the audience wishing to testify in support or opposition of the petition. I ask that members of the audience limit their statements to a maximum of three minutes. There will be a public comment period following the public hearing and it will end on Friday, February 6th. Finally, the applicant will make a closing statement and respond to any statements which may have been made. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 5 On the agenda today is a use variance No. CCZP0118-25 wherein CDP, LLC is requesting a use variance to the B-2 (Business-Secondary/Neighborhood) zoned Plot No. 295-D-2 Estate Baron Spot, King Quarter, St. Croix. The purpose of the request is to allow "Warehouse and Storage Services (General)." Does the applicant want to share pictures or a presentation for this public hearing? MR. RAMES: There will be one picture. I believe that I have it on a separate screen here and I believe that I can -- I believe I know how to share it. But there will only be one picture. MS. PAGAN: Understood, continue. You may proceed. MR. RAMES: Okay, excellent. Thank you. I'm noticing that there is a number of other people who weren't identified in your initial statement on the Microsoft Teams link here. I'd like to say that there are a number of people who are interested in this development, this prospective development, not only representatives of CDP, but also representatives of the developer, which is Four Rivers Acquisition, LLC. If I may ask questions that are technical in nature and require the input of others who may be on the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 6 line, I'd like those persons to essentially engage with respect to the answer to those questions if I indicate that I would need some technical assistance to respond to a particular question. And in that regard could anyone who is representing the developer or the owner of the land identify yourself by name and affiliation? (No Response) MR. RAMES: Am I by myself? Okay, well, that's fine. If someone comes on line who is actually a representative of the developer or a representative of the owner of the property, please identify yourself. If not, I will go ahead. Excellent. So what we have here is this. CDP, LLC, which I've represented for many years even since its initiation, is the company that owns the land that is essentially the land on which Home Depot was built. It's not only the land on which Home Depot was built, but also the land between Home Depot and the Melvin Evans Highway. That land has been broken up into commercial subdivision lots. Now as you know from either because it's, obviously it's open, one of those lots, other than Home Depot, has been developed. It's been developed into an Auto Zone right there on the corner of the property at the Melvin Evans Highway and the eastern entrance into the shopping center. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 7 There are also a couple of other developments that are eminent to that property. The first one would be immediately to the west of the Auto Zone, which is going to be a family wellness center that will be owned and operated by the Garcia family. And then a property that is immediately to the west of that, again along the Melvin Evans Highway, which is Miss Lalitha Igon's (phon) property, she is going to be developing a children's play center there to the west of the family wellness center. That would mean that there is a road in between the family wellness center, the proposed family wellness center and the proposed children play center. That road is the western entrance into the, what we call Island Crossings or the Home Depot location. So if you go into the western, if you are traveling west on -- east on the Melvin Evans Highway and you turn left into the westerly road, you'll go past the first lot on your left. And the second lot on your left is a 2.71 acre lot that we are here to talk about today. That 2.71 acre lot is about halfway down the road. It starts about halfway down the road toward Home Depot on your left. You can't miss it. It's an open field now. It's a field that's recently been cleared and it was cleared for the purposes of doing a topographical study. There we are. Thank you so much. It was cleared for the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 8 purpose of doing a topographical study and for the purpose of trying to ensure -- there is a geo-technical study that's going on there as well for the purpose of ensuring that the land is appropriate for the development of a building of the nature that we're speaking about today. Okay, so what is intended here? What is intended on Parcel No. 295-D-2, which has the little red mark on the screen, is a self-storage facility. It's a two building, self-storage facility. Even though the property is zoned B-2 (Business-Secondary/Neighborhood), you are not allowed to put a self-storage facility on that lot unless you get a zoning change or a use variance. And since we know specifically what we wish to do on that property and we know specifically that the warehouse and storage services are an option in the table of permitted use is what we require in order to build that self-storage facility on that site rather than go through a general B-3 (Business Scattered) zoning destination, the preferable alternative was to limit this application to a use variance which will allow warehouse and storage services to be placed on that site. Now this is sort of an interesting approach to developing the property. The ultimate developer is going to be a company called Four Rivers Acquisition, LLC, which is a Georgia limited liability company which entered into a contract for the purchase of the property from CDP, LLC. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 9 And of course as I said, CDP, LLC is the overall developer of that Island Crossings subdivision. CDP, LLC in that contract agreed to undertake the process of acquiring a use variance for the property working with you, working with the Legislature, working with the Office of the Governor to acquire a use variance for that property. And also CDP, LLC agreed to undertake the process necessary to get a building permit for that property as well. In doing so, we hired Antillean Engineers and Mr. Raymond Berkeley, who owns that company, to undertake the process of acquiring the building permit. And of course since I am representing CDP in all its development work over the past many years, I've been asked to essentially engage with the CCZP, engage with the DPNR, engage with the Legislature of the Virgin Islands and the Office of the Governor to acquire a use variance for this property to allow this development to move forward. A couple of obvious questions come up as a result of trying to undertake this application in trying to develop on this property. I'll try to answer a couple of those right now. As you can see, there is a residential subdivision to the west of this property. But as you know if you are familiar with this property, there is a ridge, a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 10 mountain ridge, sort of a hill ridge that is if you are going down toward Home Depot and you look to your left, you'll see flat land and you'll see a ridge going up to a higher elevation. Those houses that you see there are at that higher elevation. They are not at the same elevation as the area that has the red dot. So the closest house to the development that is being proposed is about 190 feet away and it is at a higher -- and the house would be a higher elevation. To the north -- obviously you know what the west is because you know the west is toward Frederiksted town there. So to the west it's sort of open land until you come to that ridge top. Directly to the east you'll see the Home Depot parking lot and the Home Depot. Also of course a little bit into the south you'll see, which is way toward the water the below part of the picture, to the south that would be the location for Miss Igon's, Miss Lalitha Igon's children play center. And then across the road from that would be the Garcia family wellness center. So ultimately over the next couple of years you'll see a couple of new major developments on this property that are going to attract, hopefully, attract 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 11 people and, hopefully, are going to be successful businesses for these young local people who are developing on that site. But with respect to the site we're talking about today, we're talking about two buildings, a two-story storage facility and a one-story storage facility which are going to be unlike any of the, as far as I know from my personal experience, unlike any of the self-storage facilities that we have here on St. Croix today. They are going to be air conditioned units. They are going to be fully enclosed buildings. So you have to go into a building to find your unit. And they are going to be what they call state-of-the-art self-storage facilities. I laid out a couple of questions here. Let's see. There is a question. Is there flooding or a gut on the property? Of course this was developed many years ago with a flood control channel to the north of the Home Depot store. So there won't be any flooding on the property. There are no historical or cultural resources on the property. There was some that was found to the north of this property that has been isolated and has been fully studied by the State Historic Preservation office and has been properly preserved. But insofar as this particular lot is concerned, there are no cultural or historical resources 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 12 on the property. In addition, there are no endangered plants or animals on the property. If you are familiar with the property, the property has essentially been scoured of, pretty much scoured of everything other than Tan-Tan on that property. There is no endangered plants or endangered animals on the property. Of course there is no real trees on the property. It's not a tree boa habitat. Is this going to be a multi-phase development or a single phase development? It's going to be single phase. It's going to be built, both buildings are going to be built contemporaneously and the development is going to be brought on line as soon as it's ultimately constructed. The timeline for the construction of the facility from the issuance of the building permit is less than one year, somewhere between 10 months and one year for the full construction. There are going to be two buildings. One of them is going to be a two-story building. One of them is going to be a one-story building. It's going to take about 100 people to actually build both buildings. I don't believe that a construction company has been chosen yet. But the projection is that it's going to be employing 100 construction workers full-time for at least 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 13 a year to complete the construction of this property. And when it is ultimately constructed, it will really only require two people, one inside one building, one inside the other to check people in and to check people out. So I think there will be just two full-time employees because essentially it's going to be a self-storage facility and nothing other than that. It's going to be open from 8:30 in the morning until five o'clock in the evening Monday through Saturday. And it's going to be opened by virtue of an access code. That's going to be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. So anyone who has a storage unit in there is going to be afforded an access code so they can get into the main building and ultimately get into their own unit. There will be buffering, plant buffering around the property. But the property will essentially be two buildings, 12 parking lots covering parking spaces, covering at least 6,000, if my recollection is correct, square feet of the entire 2.71 acre property. That I believe, if I can, I'd like to share the photograph if I can. Let me see if I can get that on here. It is -- yes, there we go. That is the schematic of the building as it's ultimately constructed, as it ultimately will be constructed. So you see on the top you see the main building, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 14 the two-story building. It's an attractive -- as a self-storage facility it's a relatively attractive building. And as you can see there is going to be some plantings on the property. Obviously asphalt, the drive, entering and leaving. And then the below picture you'll see the one-story building. If you go to the top picture obviously you'll see the one-story building on the right, two-story building on the left and then the lower photograph you'll see the one-story building on the right. And again if you go in there you'll have an air conditioned facility. You'll have multiple, I believe 491 total if my recollection is correct, storage units in both buildings. And essentially we'll provide a storage facility, which will be a different incline from that which otherwise exist on St. Croix. I can stop sharing now. I mean this is pretty obvious what we see here. With that I can end this aspect of my presentation. I believe that what we expect to do is we expect to move forward with this development as quickly as possible. And to understand what CDP, LLC is, CDP, LLC is a TIF zoned property. It's the only TIF zone that is a tax incentive financing development on St. Croix. So, in other words, what this means is that the property taxes that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 15 were -- that are generated as a result of the construction on that property. So, in other words, all of the property taxes that are developed as a result of the vertical construction are put in an escrow account and that escrow account is used to pay the loan that funded the infrastructure for this property. It had to be approved by the Legislature. And then it has to be established by the Legislature as a TIF zone so that the property taxes that are generated by the Home Depot and now by Auto Zone and ultimately by this self-storage development, the Garcia family wellness center and, hopefully, the Igon children play center will all be feeding property taxes into an escrow account. I believe that it was FirstBank that came up with $15 million in a loan through the PFA, the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority to do the infrastructure for this project. And then that loan is being paid off by the property taxes that are generated as a result of the development on the property. So this was a way to afford a commercial development on a property essentially establishing a public/private partnership toward that end. And in that regard obviously all of the physical infrastructure was built in at that time, including all of the sewage infrastructure, all of the electrical infrastructure and the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 16 road infrastructure were all built in at that time to facilitate the commercial development of the property. So that's CDP in a nutshell and that is this proposed development of the two storage units in a nutshell as well. I'll take questions to the extent that you have any. MS. LaPLACE: Thank you, Attorney Rames. So I do have some further questions. So you mentioned that the sewer infrastructure is already there. Water as well? MR. RAMES: That is correct. Water is as well. Now when I say water, it means that there is access to the, to WAPA water at the, that would be the southwest corner of the property. And if you noticed, right in the last couple of days a water line has been installed on the property coming from Auto Zone and heading over to the WAPA sand pipe. In fact within the last two or three days that water line has been filled in. So right now each one of the proposed development parcels as well as the Auto Zone now has direct access to that WAPA water access point and can use it not only for safety purposes, i.e. their fire suppression, but also can use it to provide wastewater. I'm not really sure if potable water is there but I know wastewater and fire 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 17 suppression water were made available at that corner. MS. LaPLACE: Okay, thank you. So will there be any backup cisterns? MR. RAMES: My understanding, no, there is no cisterns on the property. They are going to be depending on WAPA water. MS. LaPLACE: So you mentioned the building being an enclosed structure with AC. What other amenities -- are they going to have like any solar panels, any other amenities? MR. RAMES: No. My understanding is "no". My understanding is they are depending on not only WAPA power but also -- WAPA water but also WAPA power. There is going to be a generator facility there but obviously that's going to require air permits and things of that nature. That's all part of the building permit process though the building permit application has not yet been submitted. Because in order to submit a building permit, you have to say that you are properly zoned or that you have the variance. So as soon as we get through this process, the building permit will be submitted and that will tell us whether or not there is going to be any backup electrical generation. But I believe that there will be, yes. MS. LaPLACE: Okay. So you mentioned 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 18 that the building, the two buildings their footprint would come up to about 6,000 square feet, correct? MR. RAMES: That's my recollection, yes. MS. LaPLACE: Do you have an idea like inside these buildings like how many bays we're looking at? MR. RAMES: My understanding is in the one-story building and then the two stories, the other building will have a total of 491 separate bays obviously of multiple sizes. MS. LaPLACE: So 491 bays across the two buildings? MR. RAMES: Across the two buildings and the three floors, that's correct. MS. LaPLACE: And the height and feet do you have that for the two buildings? MR. RAMES: Do I have the height and feet? So in the application, this application is, my gosh, it's 14 megabytes. So that's a lot of pages. MS. LaPLACE: Okay, I'm looking at the application. Is it in the conceptual? MR. RAMES: Yes, absolutely. I'm looking for that myself. MS. LaPLACE: Let me pull that up. MR. RAMES: Okay, there is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 19 elevations. Yes, it says schematic elevations. How do I tell you how to get here? It's toward the end, right toward the end. Yes, it's all there. All of the cables are there. MS. LaPLACE: I want to put it on the record for those who are attending who may be neighbors -- MR. RAMES: Right. MS. LaPLACE: -- that may have a concern about how high it is. Maybe they might be concerned with their view. Okay, let me see here. So I've pulled up the conceptual. I see twenty-seven feet four inches. Does that sound right? MR. RAMES: That sounds about right. That must be the two-story? MS. LaPLACE: Yes. The maximum would be twenty-four feet four inches. MR. RAMES: Okay. MS. LaPLACE: All right, so that's it for my questions. Do we have any questions from any other DPNR staff before we move on to the public? Mr. Clarke, you can go ahead. MR. CLARKE: Good morning, Miss LaPlace and everyone else. I just wanted to ask, Attorney Rames, so Four Rivers St. Croix, LLC is actually leasing the property from 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 20 CDP, LLC or just building the facilities? MR. RAMES: Okay, so what's happening is this. Now obviously Four Rivers is from elsewhere. It's a Georgia, LLC. Rather than buy the property and sort of take their chances on building permits and a use variance, they said to CDP, listen, we will enter into a contract with you to buy the property but we want you to do all of the preliminary work. And if you are successful with the use variance and the building permit application, we will buy the property from you and then we will pay you for the work that you did to get there. So it's sort of like a hybrid situation. They are going to absolutely own the property outright but we can't close until this effort is successful. Does that make sense? MR. CLARKE: Oh, yes, a big total sense. So that means when everything is done and you are doing all that preliminary work as you said on behalf of CDP, then they would enter into negotiations for a contract to purchase, correct? MR. RAMES: Oh, no, no, no. The contract is already entered into and already fully executed. One of our conditions for closing, for consummating the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 21 deal, finishing the deal is that I get this right. MR. CLARKE: Got you. It makes sense. Thank you. MR. RAMES: Surely. MS. LaPLACE: Thank you. Any other questions, comments or concerns before we move on to the public? MR. MAYNARD: Yes, good morning. This is Maynard here from DPNR. Mr. Rames, thank you for the presentation. This is not to derail the property by any means. It's just a point of information. The property is located within the flood plain for one. The top part of the property is located at a 140 degree topography. Where the property is going to be located it drops off to a 90. So it does poses some sheet flow storm water issues, which eventually comes into a flood plain issue. To give you a better understanding, whoever is doing your drawings, your panel map that the property is located is between 0081G and 0081G (sic). So just be mindful in terms of elevating the slab. It needs to be elevated to keep some of that sheet flow coming on and into the building envelope. Could you please tell me what type of surfaces 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 22 are you going to be using for the parking lot? Is it going to be gravel, concrete or asphalt? I wasn't clear on that part. MR. RAMES: My understanding that it's going to be primarily asphalt. There is obviously going to be some planted areas and some sidewalk areas. But it's primarily going to be asphalt. It's obviously going to be, expected to be a lot of, with that many bays, expected to be a lot of auto traffic going in and out of there. Insofar as the flood plain issue is concerned, I'm not a scientist but I rely on Amanda Jackson Acosta to tell us what we need to do. And then I rely on my friend, Ramond Berkeley over at Antillean Engineers to actually do it. So I think that you'll probably be seeing this building permit application, yourself in your office, will probably be seeing and passing on this building permit application before we can bring my contractual issues to a close. We are going to have to satisfy you in order to do that. But, yes, that's how we're going to approach the flood plain issue. And insofar as the coverage is concerned, I think what they want they are going for the long-term. So I'm pretty sure that -- and they have advised me that it's going to be primarily asphalted. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 23 MR. MAYNARD: Okay, thank you. MR. RAMES: Surely. MS. LaPLACE: Thank you. Okay, Mr. Clarke, I see your hand again. Go ahead. MR. CLARKE: Yes, just a quick question for Mr. Maynard. I'd like him to repeat just one thing. He said the property is located on 140 degree topography. Where the actual construction is going to take place, what did you say is the degree for that? MS. LaPLACE: You are muted, Mr. Maynard. MR. MAYNARD: Sorry. The top portion of the property starts at 150 degree Topo and it drops off right at the road at 90. So it's a big drop-off there, which would create some sheet flow and storm water characteristics posing where either Home Depot or Auto Zone. So it's just being mindful. I would definitely pay attention to the design when it comes forward. It usually hits flood plain first and then move on for review. So again this is not to derail or talk down on the project's development. It's just giving you technical guidance of what needs to be followed as it pertains to the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 24 identification of the property, which are located by the FEMA firm maps. MR. CLARKE: Understood. Understood. Thank you. MR. MAYNARD: Thanks. MS. LaPLACE: Thank you. So now we'll move on to the public comment portion. As a reminder, the public comment period ends February 6th. Do we have anyone from the public? (No Response) MS. LaPLACE: Seeing none, just a reminder, the public can submit their written comments by the deadline of February 6th. We'll now move on and ask the applicant to make a closing. MR. RAMES: Well, this is my 41st year practicing law in St. Croix. I don't think I've ever had a noncontroversial project. Thank you very much. Normally I have people from the general public who have expressed their concern. You know any development has a, any development has an impact. All developments have impact. And for this development for the people of St. Croix I think Island Crossings has been a boom, a godsend to a certain extent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 25 because of the work of Mr. Jim Watson. He brought Home Depot here and he also made a number of the properties available to some local people who are going to do some really very interesting and very, I hope, wonderful developments on that property. Unfortunately three months ago we lost Jim Watson to a brain tumor and the people that he left behind to advance his dream are doing so and this is part of that. I consider it for the benefit of his family and for the people he worked with I consider this to be a bit of a mission for me to get this entire Island Crossings development fully functional with multiple businesses owned by local people, hopefully, to a great extent. And insofar as this particular one is concerned, I think this will be a positive addition to the business community and to the availability of this particular resource on St. Croix. Thank you. MS. PAGAN: Thank you. We will have a public comment period until Friday, February 6th. Please send all comments to the e-mail shown on screen. The recommendation report will then be prepared based on the received comments and evaluation of the proposal. As a reminder, the recommendation report could state approval, modification or denial of the applicant's request. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TRANSCRIPT BY PORTER'S COURT REPORTING, INC. (340) 775-2428 26 The public hearing is now at an end. Thank you. (Public Hearing Adjourned) --- CERTIFICATE This is hereby certified to be a true and accurate transcript of the foregoing proceedings. Verdell Porter Shorthand Reporter