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VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS | Committee of the Whole Legislature USVI September 22, 2023 · 3.0 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/3Ix4dFhz6VU 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. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Thank you. 0:00:00 Thank you. We'll be right back. [2 such phrases repeated 14 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:01:30 Thank you. We'll be right back. Let's get started. [3 such phrases repeated 48 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the recogniser as speech] 0:08:30 A pleasant good evening to all. The Committee of the Whole of September 21st, 2023 is hereby called to order. I'm Senator Novel E. Francis, Jr., Senate President, and today I'll be serving as the Chair of this Committee of the Whole hearing. Good afternoon to all present, listening, and viewing. 0:32:30 I'd like to welcome you all to today's Committee of the Whole, where we will consider three zoning and variance applications for the District of St. Croix. Joining us today and representing the Verzans Planner and Natural Resources is Territorial Planner, Ms. Lea Laplace-Matthew, as well as Ms. Polemes. Additionally, our DPNR continues to process of collecting data and the community input needed to formulate the Territories Land and Water Use Plan. 0:33:09 The importance of this plan is critical as we consider the real impact of climate change how we use and our land and water resources. This last week has been a real reality check about climate change on our territory. This unrelenting heat has been challenging to our public schools and has disrupted our education system and led to a job action in the St. Croix district. Across the territory, climate change is affecting our farmers and and livestock producers, contributes to higher utility bills as we use energy to stay cool, and will impact our community health and infrastructure in various ways. As an island territory, we are particularly vulnerable to climate change and must keep this at the forefront of our planning, legislation, and future consideration. 0:33:43 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole Today as legislators, our responsibility is to hear testimonies from the applicants and the findings of DPNR. I remind all present and listening that there is no votes taken in the Committee of the Whole and these measures will be voted on at tomorrow's legislative session. At this time, I'd like to caution everyone that's in the conference room to please turn your phone in silent and to avoid any interruptions of the meeting, and Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Senator Marvin A. Blyden. Senator Blyden, absent. 0:34:37 Present. Senator Blyden, present. Senator Angel L. Bolquez. Senator Bolquez, absent. Senator Diane T. Capehart. Senator Capehart, absent. Senator Samuel Carrion. Senator Carrion, absent. Senator Dwayne M. DeGraff. Here. 0:35:22 Senator DeGraff, present. Senator Ray Fonseca. Senator Fonseca absent I'm here Madam Clerk please allow for a little delay time we know that there's a little delay in the system so Senator Fonseca present Senator Novell E. Francis, Jr. Senator Francis, Jr., present. Senator Alma Francis Heiliger, present. Senator Francis Heiliger, present. Senator Donna A. Fred Gregory, here. Senator Fred Gregory, present. Senator Kenneth L. Gittins. Senator Gittins, absent. Senator Maurice C. James. Senator James, present. Senator Javon E. James, senior. Senator james senior present senator franklin d johnson senator johnson present senator carla j joseph senator joseph present Senator Milton E. Potter? 0:36:01 Here. Senator Potter, present. Mr. Chairman, 11 members present, four absent. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. We have a quorum. I'm prepared to proceed. Madam Clerk, please, any correspondence to be read into the record? Yes, Mr. Chairman. You may proceed with reading those correspondence. September 21st, 2023, Honorable Novelle E. Francis Jr., President, 35th Legislature of the Virgin Islands, 3022 Estate Golden Rock, Christenstead St. Croix, 00820. Dear Sir President, I will be absent from today's Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. in the Fritz E. Lowe's Legislative Hall on the island of St. Croix. I am presently out of the territory, attending the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Leadership Congress. Please accept my apologies for being absent. Please forward any pertinent information to my office. I would greatly appreciate your patience and understanding. Sincerely, Samuel Carrion, Senator, 35th Legislature of the Virgin Islands. 0:37:49 That concludes the correspondence. Very well, thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Please mark Senator Samuel Carrion as excused and proceed with reading of the agenda into the record. The 35th legislature will convene in a committee of the whole hearing to receive testimony on the following zoning requests. Bill number 35-0134, an act granting a use variance from the B1 Business Central Business District zoning designation to plot number 7-A, 7-B, and 8-B Hospital Street Christianstead Town, St. Croix, to allow for a marina. Divided testifiers, Leah Laplace-Matthew, Territorial Planner, Department of Planning and Natural Resources. 0:39:12 Clarence Brown, Representative, Z Property VI LLC. Bill number 35-0136, an act amending official zoning map number SCZ-11 for the island of St. Croix We changed the zoning designation of parcel number four, Estate Paradise, Prince Quarter, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, from R2, Residential Low Density 1 and 2 Family, to C, Commercial. Invited testifiers, Leah Laplace Matthew, Territorial Planner, Department of Planning and Natural Resources. Alan G. Chetoli, Applicant. 0:40:13 Bill number 35-0138, an act granting a zoning use variance for plot numbers 19 and 20 Prince Street, Frederickstead Town, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to allow for a building contractor's office, shops, and yards. Invited testifiers, Leah Laplace Matthew, territorial planner, Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Donald A. Stevens, Representative, Cat5 Builders, LLC. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk, for reading of today's official agenda into the record of the Committee of the Whole. At this time, we'll go to the testifiers, just for you to be able to identify yourself, and then we'll proceed with the testimony. 0:41:00 And we'll begin with you, sir, on my right. Let's just give you a name, just give you a name. My name is Steven Cittoli. Get a little bit closer to the mic. My name is Steven Cittoli. Thank you. Alan, Mr. Cittoli. Dean Cittoli. Thank you. Well, Polymas, Planning Technician with the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. Welcome. 0:41:54 Good evening, Leah Laplace Matthew, Territorial Planner with the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. Clarence Brown, architect, design district architects. Donald Stephens, can't find builders. Thank you very much. At this time, Ms. Matthew, we'll begin with the first request, which is bill number 35-0134, an act granting a use variance for the B1, business central business district zoning designation Platt No. 7A, 7B, and 8B Hospital Street, Christenstead Town, St. Croix, to allow for Marina. 0:42:21 Good evening again, Senate President Francis, members of the 35th Legislature, the viewing and listening people of the Virgin Islands. My name is Leah Laplace-Matthew, Territorial Planner with Department of Planning and Natural Resources, and I'm here on behalf of Commissioner Oriel. The first application, I'll have that report read by Planning Technician, Jewel Polimis. Ms. Polimis. Report and petition to amend official zoning map number SCZ-19. Application number ZAC-23-5. 0:43:01 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole Petition of Z Property VI LLC to amend the official zoning map number SCZ-19 from R4 Residential medium density to R3, residential medium density, for plot numbers 7A, 7B, and 8B, Hospital Street, Christianstead Town, St. Croix. Own an applicant. Z Property VI LLC as per warranty deed dated May 20th, 2020, document number 202-0001391. Acreage. The properties consist of 0.882 acres collectively and shown on survey drawing number 5190. 0:43:40 Current use. Property not in use, however, a building permit was granted for renovation of the existing structure on plot number 7A with the intended use of that structure being a gym and a fitness center. Proposed use. To redevelop former hotel, restaurant, and marina. Surrounding uses and zones. Surrounding the property is a mix of uses including offices, businesses, restaurants, residences, and the Christianstead harbor. The immediate area is zoned R4 and P public. Infrastructure. Water needs will be supplied by the public water line. Wastewater will be handled by the public sewer line. Public response, there has been no opposition to the proposal. During DPNR's public hearing held June 26, 2023, three adjacent property owners expressed their support for the proposed redevelopment project. Analysis, Mr. Clarence Brown testified on behalf of the applicant during the department's public hearing. 0:44:29 He stated the site is the former Outrigger Hotel, Restaurant, Bar, and Yacht Club, which which was destroyed by fire in the mid 70s to early 80s. The intent of the rezoning is to return the property to its previous use as a hotel, restaurant, bar, and marina. The property has a three-story historical building undergoing repairs. Zoning certification and historic preservation committee approval was granted for the rehabilitation and use of that building for gym and fitness center. The property's historical non-residential use was allowed under the grandfather or non-conformance status. The zoning code states that after three years of discontinuance of use or abandonment, the grandfather or non-conformance status ceases. The site is located along the northeastern edge of town near the Gallus Bay Marina. The surrounding area contains properties that have historically been used for commercial and residential activity. The current R4 zoning, however, does not permit the applicant's proposed hotel, restaurant, bar or marina, thus the reason for pursuing the R3 zone which allows those uses. The department is in favor of town properties having increased use opportunities to spur redevelopment in our towns. This zoning map amendment provides a potential benefit to the community and may be a stimulus for the rehabilitation and or enhancement of surrounding town properties. After the department's public hearing, the applicant discovered the property was already rezoned to B1 central business district by act number 6722 in 2004. 0:45:38 The department analyzed the B1 zoning and it would not allow for the marina and the department's recommendation would be for a use variance for the marina. Recommendation. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources recommends that a used variance be granted to the B1 Business Central Business District, zoned plot numbers 7A and plot number 7B, and 8B Hospital Street, Christianstead Town, St. Croix, to allow for marina. Signed by Commissioner Jean-Pierre Aureole, dated August 19, 2023. 0:47:26 Thank you very much, Mr. Pulemus, at this time, Mr. Clarence Brown, you're recognized for your testimony. Good afternoon everyone, Clarence Brown, Design District Architects. Good afternoon, Senate President, Novo Francis, and members of the Legislature. I'll just read into record the letter that I sent to the Senate President, and I'm writing on behalf of Z Property VI, which is led by Peter Zilke and Marianne Zilke, to request a zoning map amendment for Plot 7A and 8A8B Hospital Street Christian Said USVI. These two lots total 0.882 acres and sits between Hospital Street and the Christian Said Harbor. This lot is currently zoned B1 and is a former site of the Outrigger Hotel, Restaurant and and Yacht Club, which was destroyed by fire around 1980. 0:48:04 Located in the historic downtown, this lot is surrounded by a mix of uses, including restaurants, professional offices, residences, government offices, and a boat repair shop, to name a few. This lot has public road frontage on the west side, which provides access to public utilities, such as electricity, potable water, and waste. EZ Property VI LLC intends to return the property to its previous use with construction of a small boutique hotel and the rebuilding of the dock marina component. 0:49:01 This request today is for you to consider a use variance to allow for that marina use. We are confident that this proposed amendment fits within the established character of the area. And will have a positive effect on the community and surrounding property owners. Additionally, this project is under the jurisdiction of the State Historic Preservation Office and subject to reviews by the Historic Preservation Committee, which provides additional checks and balances on impact to the surrounding neighborhood. We're grateful for the opportunity to present this request for consideration and look forward to answering your questions. 0:49:35 Thank you very much, Amidia. You can go ahead and proceed with the showing of the photos of that area. And if someone could just walk us through it, Mr. Brown. Yeah, so this is at the Hospital Street side. This is the existing historic building that is currently being restored. That's been permitted already by DPNR. Same site, so this is behind that historic building in the middle of that block where the contractors are storing the historic bricks that they took off of the building. But as you look north, you're looking at what used to be, I believe, a gas station at one point, and it's now a restaurant. 0:50:16 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole This is looking back towards the Christian State of Harbour and across to the Gallows Bay docks. But again, this is the view looking east towards the water. Now this is, if you're standing closer to the water site of the property, and looking back towards Hospital Street, this is the rear of that historic building that's being restored. To the, sorry, if you go back one more, to the right of that is a building that's owned by the VIPD. And that's their marine division. So that's where they store a lot of their boats and marine equipment. 0:51:20 This again is from the waterside looking west, kind of focusing on that lot just next door, which is currently being used as a restaurant. That's the Department of Education building in the background through the trees that you see. I think the Department of Education still uses it. So this is what the water looks like out here. We have what used to be docks and marinas. Docks and marina out here is now ruins. This was damaged in Hurricane Hugo, and so we've essentially had this damaged structure out at sea just sitting around, and the plan here is that we'll come in, clean this up, and restore it and return it to a functioning marina again. 0:52:02 That's another view of that waterside. This is a proposed plan that is laid out for the future development, and it just shows the hotel component that will be built in white, which is allowed in B1. So that's not really the request today. The request really is that this lot, the B1 zoning designation does not allow for that marina component and the docks. And so our request today is that we would have the right to rebuild that marina and return that use to the property. 0:53:03 The extent and the configuration of that marina is still to be determined. We have to do surveys and we have to go through the Army Corps of Engineering and CZM and I think that will start to take shape. But this is just an illustration of one potential outcome. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Clarence Brown. So we'll proceed on to the next request. Ms. Laplace-Mathie, you recognize for your next presentation, which is Bill No. 35-0136, an act amending official zoning map SCZ-11 for the Island of St. Croix to change the zoning designation of Parcel No. 4, Estate Paradise, Prince Quarter, St. Croix, Virgin Islands from R2, Residential Low Density 1 and 2 Family 2C Commercial. 0:53:53 Good evening again. Report on petition to amend official zoning map number SCZ-11. Application number ZAC-23-6. Petition of Alan G. Chetoli to amend the official zoning map number SCZ-11 from R2 residential Low Density 1 and 2 Family to C Commercial. For parcel number 4, Estate Paradise, Prince Quarter, St. Croix. 0:54:48 Owner applicant, Alan G. Chetoli as per warranty deed, dated August 14, 2017, document number 2017-003361. Acreage. The property consists of 12.62 acres, as shown on survey drawing number D9-6338-C013. Current use, property in use for the storage of used equipment, trucks, and scrap metal. Proposed use, to bring property into compliance and expansion of the storage use. Surrounding uses and zones. Surrounding the property is a mix of uses, including the Melvin Evans Highway residences, the Henry E. Rolton Airport, William D. Roebuck Industrial Park, and a church. The immediate area is zoned R2, R3 residential medium density, B3 business scattered, B4 business residential areas, C commercial, and P public infrastructure. 0:55:20 Water needs will be supplied by cistern. Wastewater will be handled by the public sewer line. Public response, there has been no opposition to the proposed rezoning. No one spoke in support of, questioned, or commented on the petition at DPNR's public hearing held Friday, July 21, 2023. Analysis, Mr. Alan Chetoli testified during the department's public hearing That the site is used by his current business operations to store used equipment, trucks, and scrap metal. The intent of the rezoning is to bring the site into zoning compliance, aiding in his current operations expansion. The site is located south of the Melvin Evans Highway, along the northern boundary of the Henry E. 0:56:34 Rolson Airport. The site is less than half a mile west of the William D Roebuck Industrial Park, which allows warehousing, storage, and light industrial uses. It is also within 150 feet of Plot 2-D Estate Paradise, which was rezoned to C Commercial by Act 6192 in 1997. The R2 zoning is no longer appropriate for the property, as it is not in a location conducive for residential development, due to proximity to the airport. Also, no comments were registered by Virgin Islands Port Authority when contacted regarding the proposal for commercial zoning and uses. The requested C commercial zoning was intended for light industrial and manufacturing uses to be located away from the central business districts that cater to pedestrians and tourists, and does not permit residential use. 0:57:25 It permits over 200 uses, some recognized as potential detriments to dominantly residential neighborhoods. The department recognizes the C commercial zoning will keep the property in conformity with the zoning and light industrial character already found in this area south of the highway. Recommendation, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources recommends that Official Zone and Map number SCZ-11 be amended from R2, Residential Low Density 1 and 2 Family, to C Commercial, for Parcel Number 4, Estate Paradise, Print Squadron St. Croix, signed by Commissioner Jean-Pierre Aureole, dated August 18, 2023. 0:58:27 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole That concludes the report. Thank you very much, Ms. Laplace-Matthew. Next, we will go to Mr. Cittoli for your testimony. Let's give your name again and your record before you speak. Good day, Honorable Senate President Nobel Francis and the members of the Legislature. I, Alan G. Chitoli, started my business in 1986 as Chitoli trucking service over the years. Our business has grown substantially. of September 20th, 2023, we have 25 full-time employees. We have two properties that we do business on 214 cassava garden christian said virginia and zero zero eight two zero and plot 10 and 10a esther pearl christian said virgin islands zero zero eight two zero more property uh zone industrial our business has expand from trucking equipments rental and fuel to include concrete supply. 0:59:13 Plot number four, Paradise, is presently being used to hold our used equipment and scrap metal. It has been a property used to support the day-to-day operation of the other business. To the south of us is the airport, to the north of the Mervin-Ivans Highway, to the east below is the industrial park, to the west is the old yellow cedar housing development, northwest of our property is a church. Our request is to change the property from residential to commercial. We plan to relocate one of our companies there, which is M&T, this is a trucking company. 1:01:01 We appreciate you hearing our case, and we look forward to our request being granted. Thank you, Alan G. G. Tolley. Thank you very much. Media, at this time, please show the depictions. And if someone could walk us through that. I'll go ahead and describe. So this is an aerial view of the property and its current condition. You can see there's scrap metal storage on the property. 1:02:17 And to the right you can see the Melvin Evans Highway past the brush. Next picture. So again, the property with storage of scrap metal and used equipment. Next picture. Another aerial of the property, and you can see the highway to the north. Next picture. The site again, used for scrap metal storage and equipment, used equipment. 1:02:52 Next picture. Again the property's condition, and to the right you'll see the fence in, and further to the right would be the airport. Next picture. And so you can see on this photo on the left would be the buffer between the airport and the property. Next picture. So the conditions, and you can see on the right, the highway. On the left, the buffer between the property and the airport. And further towards the north of the property is the old yellow cedar residential subdivision. Next picture. site conditions. Next picture. That's it. Thank you very much. This is Laplace Matthew. At this time we could proceed on to bill number 35.0138 and act granting a zone in use variance for Platz number 19 and 20, Prince Street, Frederickstead Town, St. Croix, Virgin Islands to allow for a builder, building, contractors, office, shops and yards. Okay, good evening. I'll have that report presented by planning technician, Jewel Polimis. 1:03:23 You may proceed, Mr. Polimis. Report on petition to amend official zoning map number SCZ-18. Application number ZAC-23-4. Petition of Cat5 Builders LLC requesting that a used variant be granted to the R4 residential medium density zoned, plot number 19 and 20, Prince Street, Frederickstead Town, St. Croix. Owner and applicant, Evolve Warehouse LLC as per warranty deed dated June 8, 2017, document number 2017-002611. Cat 5 Builders LLC has entered into a lease agreement for use of the property. 1:04:45 Acreage, the property consists of 9,625 square feet as described on measure brief folio number 229. Current use, property in use as Cat 5's office and under lease agreement. Proposed use, to allow applicants to operate a building contractor's office, shops and yards, general contractor services. Surrounding uses and zones. Surrounding the property is a mix of empty lots and uses included long and short term rentals and former retail and storage buildings. The immediate area is zoned R4 and B3 business scattered. 1:05:41 infrastructure. Water needs are supplied by a cistern and in the future, the public water line. Wastewater will be handled by the public sewer line. Public response. There has been no opposition to the proposal. One letter of support was submitted prior to DPNR's public hearing held May 23, 2023. During DPNR's public hearing, an adjacent property owner expressed their support and and a second expressed concern with your property being used for parking. Analysis. Mr. Donald Stevens, managing member and co-founder of Cat5 Builders LLC, testified during the department's public hearing that the intent is to allow use of the property for his construction company's office. The property has a two story warehouse style building which was last used for a retail shop around 2016-2017. The property has historically been used for non-residential uses and had grandfather or non-conformance status. 1:06:26 The zoning code states that after three years of discontinuance of use or abandonment, the grandfather or non-conformance status seizes. The property's current R4 zoning would have allowed for a home-based office under the home occupation category in the R4 table of permitted uses. The home occupation use could have allowed for office use, internet retail sales and storage of the applicant's equipment. The applicant, however, does not live on the site and permission cannot be granted. 1:07:33 The applicant's construction operation is a low-tech, compact manufacturing process that operates in a mobile fashion by producing building components at a construction site on a portable trailer. Oil and magnesium oxide boards go through a 1:08:06 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole cold roll forming process like how gutters are roll formed for housing. The highly weather resistant and cost effective building system occurs under an environmentally friendly building process involving no heat, hazardous chemicals or volatile organic compounds. The applicant's request was analyzed based on the surrounding zoning and area's character as well as the compatibility of the intended use of office and retail shop. The department sees the merits of the applicant's request for an office and retail shop in our downtown area. The proposed use would not be out of character with the surrounding area's zoning and character. It must be noted that the applicant intends to use the property as a start up point and with company growth moved to an appropriate site for a large scale manufacturing facility. It must also be noted that the property owner intends to convert the property's use once the lease agreement would cut 5 ends. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources recommends that a use variance be granted to the R4 Residential Medium Density Zone Plot Numbers 19 and 20, Prince Street, Frederickstead Town, St. Croix, to allow for built-in contractor's office, shops and yards, general contractor services with the condition that construction manufacturing of building components are to occur at construction sites. Signed by Commissioner Jean-Pierre Aureole, dated July 5th, 2023. 1:09:02 Thank you very much, Ms. Polimus. At this time, Mr. Stevens, you're recognized for your testimony. Good evening, President and members of the legislature. Thank you for this opportunity to speak for you for you this evening I'd like to edit my remarks a little bit because they're a little bit lengthy so but my full remarks have been submitted for the record just like to talk a little bit about my background and the company and partners and why we're here in St. Croix how we how we became a how I became a resident of St. Croix and decided on starting a business so my name is Donald Stevens I'm the managing member of co-founder of cat5 builders or Cat5 for short. Cat5 is a limited liability company founded in St. Croix in 2021 by my wife Andrea and I. The company was established to conduct four primary tasks. First task is to manufacture and to supply a highly weather resistant and cost effective building system within the territory and eventually as an export product throughout the Caribbean. Assistant in training, then number two, assist in training of the local workforce in partnership and or in support of the St. Croix Career Technical Education Center, also known as CTECH. Three, not only be a job creator, but also assist in the placement of other CTECH graduates from other trades that are desperately needed in the U.S. Virgin Island construction industry. Four, be a conduit for economic growth and a pillar of support for our community. 1:09:56 At this time, I'd just like to introduce my wife, Andre, who's joined me this evening. My son, Chase, who's a resident, could not be here. He had held up on a job site earlier today. So Andre and I first came here on vacation in January 2015, approximately eight years ago. We immediately fell in love with the island, the charm that St. Croix has. after seeing how the market builds and its houses and buildings we instantly knew that there was an opportunity if it ever opened up for us when COVID broke out my primary business which was basically doing the same thing back in the States was pretty much destroyed at that time we started my wife and I started talking about the idea of possibly going back to St. Croix and and see if there was an opportunity there. 1:11:29 Had some phone calls with some friends that own businesses down here, happened to know them, and we decided to make an exploratory trip. During that trip, we met with a couple of realtors and a couple of builders. We did a presentation, we showed them our technology, and they asked us, could you start tomorrow? When can you be here? We need housing, we need this, we need everything so expensive and out of control. And so on a prayer on a whim, we decided to make the trip and start the process. I'm an architect by education, a former licensed Class A contractor in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, and the founder of Stuck on Steel and Sheltered a Home, which did business as Vanguard Lightgate Steel Buildings that conducted business in Winchester, Virginia, where I used to reside. my company specializes in manufacturing highly disaster resistant low-cost building systems for both residential and commercial projects I've done this in Sri Lanka I've spent four years in Haiti building before and after the earthquake in January 10th January 12 2010 Mexico as well as manufactured building components for most of the major hotel chains including Hilton Marriott Hyatt choice, just to name a few, and a variety of buildings of up to eight stories in height. 1:12:27 My son and my third partner, Chase Stevens, graduated in 2021 from the Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Chase joined the company full-time in January as a project and component design engineer. And Chase has been working with me off and on since he was a little kid. My wife, Andrea, graduated with a degree of finance from american university in washington dc she has over 29 years of experience in the finance industry andre will be relocating to st croix to join the company full time once my our youngest daughter gets a little bit more established she just started at virginia tech and interior design let me share some important milestones with you showing our commitment uh to date may 14 2021 Lieutenant Governor Roach authorized our new business, CAD 5 Builders. July 2022, more than a half a million dollars worth of specialty manufacturing equipment and technology was shipped from my former business in Virginia and delivered to 416 Prince Street, property in question. It was staged there 1:13:50 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole while we worked to acquire licenses and approvals. On February 23rd, I became a permanent resident in St. Croix. On March 23rd, 2023, my application for this use variance was filed. On July 5th we received the approval from Commissioner Jean-Pierre Oriel. The company has several large projects coming in that require Cat5 to hire and train more workers. One of the projects includes rebuilding of the old H&H tire facility that burnt down about seven years ago. That owner Mr. Kevin Hensley has graciously attached a letter of recommendation. We also have six home housing project pending with the Housing Authority that is being managed by Tillman Construction. We have more than a dozen low-cost luxury mostly middle-income not I wouldn't say luxury middle-income residential projects in our queue right now. Cat 5's lease with Evolve Warehouse entitles us to use a lower level of the warehouse. I'm not get too much into details my remarks are submitted that describes the surrounding space it's really a stepping stone for us so if we can get established our lease will expire shortly so and we're looking to buy property and build our own facility i'll get to that in a little bit more our building process is environmentally friendly there's no heat there's no hazardous chemicals no volatile organic compounds or VOCs the use in the production and finish of the components so we're talking about prefabricated building components like wall panels floor trusses roof trusses parts that mainly can be used in any type of building systems I mean we really can build really anything cisterns decks houses variety of things building components once installed are highly resistant to fire termites mold mildew and of course are designed to be category 5 strength or better all the while taking less time to build with greater cost savings 100% of the raw materials and steel which is the steel and the magnesium oxide board which was replaces pressure-treated plywood okay is recyclable all the steel that we 1:15:25 use is already recycled a recycled product everything that we do our byproduct can all be recycled and we're not going to be adding to to the to the landfills cat5 is already a good student steward of the community as we are also working to support the Caribbean Center for boys and girls of the Virgin Islands real cruising cats in rough starts once operational we tend to get back to the community that will be supporting us as we grow and December 2021 cat5 developing a job training program in partnership with CTEK that program is on hold because of this use variance. On May 15th, Dr. Vincent Gordon, the principal at the time of CTEC, invited my son Chase and I to the commencement ceremony. Jevin James, Senator Jevin James, actually spoke to I believe you might have been there as well and it was really nice that Dr. Vincent acknowledged us so we stood up and as a result of that we hired one of the CTEC graduates out of mill right. I have a letter of recommendation from Dr. Gordon like to submit. The youth variance will legally permit us to apply to become a licensed VI contractor to not only build homes for our own clients but also help other residential building contractors build better homes, lower the cost associated with buildings, and fixing a home and also fixing a home. A use variance will also allow us to submit our application to Mr. Wayne Biggs Jr., the Executive Officer of the Economic Development Authority, to acquire the additional tax benefits that will then allow Cat 5 to further invest here in St. Croix, in turn allowing us to purchase property, to build a larger, more efficient manufacturing facility, create even more jobs, all of which will help Cat 5 to expand sales and insulation of our building components throughout the Virgin Islands. We're looking also, as I said earlier, as an export throughout the Caribbean. On behalf of Andrea Chase and myself, which are the owners, my four employees, Lloyd, Monet, Javante, and Shaquem, we thank you for this opportunity and would now, at this time, welcome any questions. Thank you. 1:17:14 Thank you very much, Mr. Stevens and Media, if you could just show your photos that we have available and if someone could walk us through it. Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Mr. Stevens, yes. Yes, so the building on the top, the photo on the top left is the existing building. It's a warehouse. It used to be a fertilizer storage, from what I understand after talking to my neighbors. The roof was just stored in Hurricane Maria, and it sat vacant. 1:19:29 It sat vacant until the two previous owners who developed the Fred Hotel purchased it. they were using the building to store building materials and they were using it for uh manufacturing of various parts for the hotel uh next door to it on the left hand side if you're facing is the laundry facility for the fred you can see that in the second photo on the top right uh middle middle left uh is towards the right it's um there's a well there uh vacant two vacant lots kind of where that that camper is parked there on the other side on the photos below it's just come some interior pictures of the courtyard where the laundry facility is for the Fred this is the building inside it's got 12 foot ceilings the building was pretty much gutted they repaired the roof on electrical. There's three phase coming into the building right now which is used to power the laundry facility next door. Conditions of the bathrooms. We've we've made about $30,000 worth of improvements to the building just trying to get the bathrooms up the electric electricity updated things like that this is looking top photo is looking down the street towards let's 1:20:04 see this would be south I believe there's a the yellow building on the right across the street used to be the old meat market from my understanding it used to be a little Caribbean market there's a realtor in town Diane Brooks she owns the building and she is using the building kind of as a carpentry school so she's there making shutters and variety of things inside it's got some kids coming in and out or young adults doing various projects it's across the house across the street 1:21:59 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole both the properties across the street are our rentals don't have any long-term well it's what it is it's did both rentals across the street looking looking north down Prince Street there's two buildings on the left that are unoccupied and then there's a building further down the right my actually my son leases an apartment in that building and then beyond that you come to hill street and there's a lady that owns it um she owns lot 18 and that is the uh just a vacation home so the picture on the top is uh just kind of if you walked outside our building and just look to the right um so you can kind of see the the building in the background on below and the courtyard to the laundry which is plot number 19 and then the apartment building is a two-story apartment building as i said my son jace occupies the lower apartment excuse me oh very well i thank you for that and um that brings up all of the the testimony for today, and Madam Clerk, if you could just record Senator Dan T. Kepard as being present. Colleagues, there you have it. No apparent controversy in these measures before us, and we have favorable recommendation by DPNR. So at this time, what I'll do is open up for a three-minute round, and we'll start off with Alma Francis Heidegger and you're recognized for your three minutes. 1:23:48 Thank you, Novell Francis. Good afternoon to my colleagues. Good afternoon to the people of the territory. Good afternoon to the testifiers. I first would like to say that I was very appreciative of the thorough from what i understand thorough reporting from dpnr on all of these specific rezoning and variance requests 35.0135 as it relates to the marina expansion i just want to make sure i understand that there was a hotel and marina there previously and due to some rezoning it went to be one but you want a variance to not only put back the type of business that was there which was a hotel I guess little retail shops but you also would like to put back the marina is that what this variance is for yes senator okay well I have no questions for that. I understand it perfectly. The second one, 35-0136. The questions I want to ask, I heard that there were no oppositions to this one. But what I want to ask the owner that presented, the property is about 12 point, what is it, 62 acres. What percentage of the property do you intend to utilize for the expansion of your business? And share a little bit with that in regards to that. Are you trying to use all of it or just a portion of it 1:24:36 to expand your business? One of our trucking company, build an office and move one of our trucking company down there um okay well the reason why i ask is um to build an office and put trucks for the trucking company i'm not sure that's gonna eat up 12.62 acres and i'm one of those senators that get very concerned at times with the rezoning from r2 to no commercial and you know things might get subdivided and sold off so i just want to make sure it's going to be utilized by yourself and your business so that's why i ask those questions yes um my la okay thank you so much my last has to do with um 35-0138 my question with this specific business how long does it take to to build one of these type business buildings, homes, et cetera, on average, based on square footage? Could you just give me an idea of, say, like a 2,000-square-foot home? 1:26:26 One minute. So before we came down, we had a project in Virginia. It was a 3,000-square-foot house that we built for a lady, and we had the whole structure up in three weeks what oh okay yeah when prefabric prefabrication of components off-site in a controlled environment where you're not dealing with the heat and the wind and the rain 30 seconds allows allows us to have the high quality control of what we make we ship those components to the job site and it can just be erected pretty quickly okay so so the base of it is um from steel structures and you build up from there yes ma'am for the prefab okay my other question is who does the certifications as to um how you're saying that they're cat five and better strength wise because that would be something very concerning for us here in the territory to guarantee who does those types of certifications for these buildings so the so the the technology that we we operate under is controlled by the uh the building codes the international building codes and because like a steel framing is very specific that all falls under the american institute of the steel industry and so that's all it's all highly regulated um building technology that's used around the world when it comes to engineering very specific projects we have uh we have a very long history with our engineer who is actually now licensed in the virgin islands to do all of our structural analysis um and they're doing calculations that determine the wind strength um so that we can actually mr chair i know my time was called could i just ask my final question 1:27:46 quickly you may senator thank you so much um i know you referenced the build out in virginia um can you give me have you built out anything here in the territory so far i know you said your son was working on a project that's why he couldn't be here um have you completed anything on the island of saint john i mean saint croix so far we have how long did it take we have our first house under construct under construction it's an owner build um and we're we're actually pouring concrete today so uh putting the foundations in so we fab we have fabric we've already started fabrication of the of the key components floor trusses and some of the wall panels and as soon as the foundation is in place we'll ship those up and start framing how long is it going to take uh that house that structure because of the complexity of where it is on the side of the hill uh that probably will take us a couple weeks to get in to get in shell okay thank you mr chair for the additional time uh thank you very much senator francis harliga next the chair will recognize senator franklin d johnson 1:29:43 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 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole you recognize for your three minutes good afternoon thank you very much mr chair good afternoon to my colleagues been a long day um mr juttoli i know you for quite some time you've been doing business here in the territory for quite some time i guess your children and were children when you started your business. I know a bit about that property. I don't have no issues with it. I don't think no residential could ever go back there based on the airports and its condition. So I have no question to you. I pretty much want simple and you're planning to build your main office space there? Well, it's for a trucking company that we have. They call M&T Trucking. We want to, you know, set it up over there. Okay, so your trucks and your office will be there? Yeah. Okay. All right, I don't have no question. I'm glad to see that some use is gonna be used for that property because there's not much can be done there based on what Port Authority have done with the land. Now, I'm gonna jump back on foot. I wanna jump to 350134. I see this marina plan and it sounds all great. would it require dredging likely right so this is kind of first step in a long set of steps that we have um but we will need an army corps of engineer permit we will have to survey um the water and determine depths and or just reconfigure the marina to get um to the deeper portions of the harbor but there's a there's some likelihood that dredging may be required, but we're far away from being able to determine that right now. 1:31:35 I saw a lot of work being done in that building. How's the relationship with you guys and historic preservation because it's an old ruin and I know it takes some conditions that you have to, guidelines that you have to meet. How that's been going thus far? No, it couldn't be better. I think we've been having a good time. Z Property, VI, they're very active on that street and they're at hpc quite often we had a meeting with them this morning as well um they do what they say they're going to do and i think hpc respects that so um we've been they've been supporting the project that's good to know because now historic preservation is not easy cookie to work with uh conditions changes so fast they've been great okay that's good to hear. It's really encouraging. And then we go to the last one here. I'm impressed with what you're saying, and I would have liked that you would have brought some clips or design of what you have done thus far. Homes is needed badly. We continue hearing this conversation about capacity, but without living quarters, capacity will never be met because people have to have a place to stay and live so i i you know it's breathtaking hearing that i want to understand in that structure in that big building that you're going to use in you're going to actually be putting a lot of the parts of your puzzle together inside that time facility there yes sir any pouring of cement inside there no sir so your your material is strictly what it's a light gauge galvanized steel framing and it's light gauge galvanized steel frame it's thin thin metals um like primarily how commercial buildings are being built in the states today hotels and stuff um using its steel framing 1:32:35 is that sure i mean um so you have done any on the island as far no sir we well we're we're getting there um you know the guidelines with dpnr and some of the permittance that you're gonna have to be um because a lot of times the the electrical and the plumbing in the mainland versus the virginal is totally different and you understand the building codes and yes requirements yes yes yes all right well i wish you the best um go ahead so we had a meeting with um amanda jackson uh the the director of dpnr and went through everything in advance uh for submitting for our our first building permit, just working with DPNR and trying to give them the proper documentation that they need to validate our permit. So we have several permits already that are acquired and we just went through, we just acquired the construction permit, not myself. This would have been Tillman Construction. They acquired the permit for the rebuilding of the H&H using our building technology. 1:34:25 I want to say congratulations on one of your hire from CTECH. It's a breath of fresh air to hear that some of our young men that just came out, school is getting an opportunity. How is that working out? You know, it's great. I came here, you know, when you bring new technology to the island, instantly I knew that there'd be nobody here that would understand what we were trying to do. So one of my first calls was to the University the Virgin Islands and I got connected to Dr. Gordon, Vincent Gordon, and he has been, he had been just fantastic person to work with. And just my last question, by any chance you will be able to do some apprentice walk, allow some of those from Ctech to do some apprentice walk with your company? I have a, I have a job training program that has been sitting on the governor's desk that would allow me to do that training once I get my, once I'm able to do everything, you know, legally uh so well i wish you luck i hope that he hurry up expedite that because thank you our young men here sometimes people say they don't want to work but opportunities don't stay waiting too long so i sure hope that you get that completed by the governor and these young gentlemen outside here get an opportunity if i could just building stuff with your hands is just something that's been a passion since i started building a tree for it and my parents property in my backyard so being able to see buildings that i've built around the world is especially spent four years in haiti building three years after the earthquake and building houses that have gone through category four hurricanes uh 7.8 earthquakes we have a really good building system it just you know the the island has opened their arms to us and we're here to to do good things thank you very much and you know once dpnr is not fighting and we don't pretty much push back and welcome aboard and hope we could get some good things done thank you very much thank you very much thank you very much senator johnson before we go to the 1:35:36 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) 9 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole next senator which will be senator de graff what is a comparison between the metal that that you utilize versus a trailer house is there any comparison to in that type of um so let me it's senator uh let me explain that uh it in regards to steel there are steel that is hot rolled steel and then there's cold form steel hot rolled steel would be the big beams that you see that comes out molten level high and they form it and form it into maybe a beam shape, that comes, it's called hot rolled steel. What we're doing is we're using steel that is, it's a primary steel that's the same type of steel that's used in the automotive industry, however it's formed during a cold roll forming process so we use these coils of steel that go through a machine that you know quietly you almost can't even hear running it holds the materials in the shape of a stud and then pre-cuts and marks and does everything so when the parts and pieces come out of this machine all you need to do is put it together imagine um you know buying some ikea furniture a box and being able to just open up the box and putting it all together and that's sort of what our machine does it makes all the parts and so it's very low tech still requires some skill sets and we provide all that training but that where you're talking about thin metals okay not heavy thick metals so you know you see when you start building buildings like in new york city or something and multi-big that's all big hot rolled steel reinforced concrete we can build up to eight stories in the states with cold form steel so and the machinery that I have here at Frederickstead now could actually build an eight-story hotel down here but it would not be compliant to the wind loads so I've got a lot of detailed information on our 1:37:41 website and I'd be glad to follow up and share additional information with you very well thank you I'll set a graph you're recognized via three minutes Thank you Mr. Chair. Good evening colleagues, good evening testifiers of your listening and present. Bill 35-0134, Ms. Laplace, have E1 is the same as R4? No, Senator. So the department as well as the applicant when the application was made was not aware that the property had already been rezoned. 1:39:38 someone informed the applicant after we held our public hearing. So this B1, it came to our attention after the fact. But then Bill 35, 0134, won't be valid. It is necessary for the marina. So it's necessary to allow for the use variance of the marina. Okay, so B1 Business Central District is what you are rezoning the property for? 1:40:13 The property is already zoned B1. The B1 does not allow Marina, so they're requesting a use variance to allow the Marina. Right, I got that. In B1? Correct. So it'll be B1 with a use variance for Marina. if i'm okay so the application has on r4 um to r3 for the same plot and everything then is that also accurate because confusing the bill says one thing and then what you're presenting here says something different so i'm trying to see the nexus so it doesn't inconvenience the individual uh going forward so if you're presenting one thing and then you're showing me a one it gives me pause where i might say hey i may not support this bill because of this error then who suffers the individual who will bring in the and and i i support the individual if i may mr brown wanted i'll hold your time um mr brown wanted to explain something further Yeah, I just want to clarify that when this zoning request initially was submitted, the impression we had was that this was zoned as R4. 1:40:49 So we were requesting a rezoning to R3 to allow for a hotel and a marina component. However, we discovered after this was submitted that the current zoning designation is B1. That B1 allows for the hotel, the restaurants, and everything else that we want to do. Except it does not allow us to rebuild the marina component. So what we discussed with the Department of Planning and Natural Resources is that we would continue with this process and simply request the variance that would then allow us that final piece, which is to build a marina component. so we're not needing a rezoning for the hotel and for the hotel we just need a variance for the marina component yeah mr brown i i get what you say like i say you you don't really have to sell me i i support you but for the fact that 19 july 2023 is when dpnr presented and signed off and this and they have our four and here we are september 21st 2023 some months later with a bill that says b1 so again if they're going to do their assessment the assessment should say what b1 and you know this uh business central and all of that should be in their assessment now they bring us an old assessment and then we have a new bill it it complicates it it doesn't match again is no reflection on you mr brown i support your business i support what you're trying to do but i think right is right and wrong is wrong we cannot have 3510134 stating one thing separate from what dpi and i said and then dpi and i is presenting dpi and i didn't even present 1:42:10 b1 business central business district they presented our form time to art so that that's the problem i have if it doesn't match up then i can't support this bill because again it says something different and what ends up happening is when you come out and you try to get your things done then it puts you in a backlog and a delay and it causes problems for you so i want to have to have that part done right if you understand where i'm coming from um i i you know by explaining it in in the support of you so uh mr chair i think my time was called but again i think this needs to be straight now before we move forward and i support all of the three but one written one way dpnr presented r4 to r3 the bill says b1 i think that's a conflict Thank you for the time, Mr. Chair. 1:44:08 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) 10 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole If I may clarify. Yeah, you may clarify. Okay, so Senator, the report, the original report was dated July 19th. And after it was submitted, that's when the discovery was made that the property was actually rezoned already to B1. So the department submitted an amended report dated August 19th. Mr. Chair, where is that report? We're going off a report that was read 19 July 2023. 1:45:02 That's what I have. I don't have the August 19th. Again, it should reflect with the bill. Yeah, the report, Senator, the report that's in the file and uploaded is actually the, well, it's there. The August 19, 2023 report is there. I'm not saying it's not there. I'm just saying I don't have it. I didn't see it, I don't have it, but again, does it reflect the B1 is what you're saying, Mr. Chair? I don't know. Yes, it does. 1:45:34 Okay, it didn't come to me, that's what I say. No problem, we'll make sure you get our amended copies, Senator. Another issue, you got any questions for the other individual? No, no, I support all three. Very well, thank you. uh next senator be recognized first of all let's recognize the presence of senator kenneth l gittins um next will be senator javon e james senior recognized for your three minutes greetings to the people of the u.s virgin islands thank you mr chair for the time like the good former senator celestino white used to say i don't just talk sense i apply sense And these three bills before us make sense. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. 1:46:03 But what I like about these zoning variances and rezoning is that we have no opposition. No opposition whatsoever. Many times we find ourselves in a rock and a hard place in the legislature where we have public responses and an opposition. So today is definitely a good day, and today speaks to economic development, which leads to my question. 1:46:54 As far as the proposed use for Hospital Street Christian St. Town St. Croix for Z property vi llc i see how the propose used to redevelop former hotel restaurant and marina and as far as a timeline for this product i'm assuming that you already have the finances and you're ready to roll out once this thing is passed anyone can speak to that yeah so um these projects are self finance and um i this client typically when i get a permit from dpnr i show up the next morning and he's working so this is this is not a efficient expedition that we're on this is this is a real project and i would be foolish of myself to even question this because this makes sense for saint st croix you know many times i see negative news circulate all over the virgin islands but we have to focus on the positivity and today speaks to some major major development on alone st croix and i want to say it's a special thank you to dp and of course ours our friend miss la paz machu for for her service. Now, what I like about application number ZAC 23-6 to bring property into compliance and expansion of the storage use is that we're utilizing the south shore of St. Croix and we are putting it to its intended use as far as truly being an industrial park. being an industrial park and I just want to say that 30 seconds when it comes to these jobs of course we're gonna have individuals working and I'm all for that because many times I have individuals who want a second chance and they might say hey senator I just came out of jail and sometimes you know we we punish them 1:47:24 well we have to make sure that BOC continues to train these individuals while they're incarcerated so when they do come back into society they can be able to participate in this construction boom that we have in the US Virgin Islands because even a blind man can see that St. Croix is on the move and we have projects moving forward but we have to keep our people employed so it's not your stress but I'm putting it out putting it out there to make sure we get our young virgin islanders to work so i'm all for this economic development and lastly mr chair i support the other one and once again like i said there's no opposition this is a win-win for frederickstead st croix so for those in frederickstead economic development is here thank you you, Mr. Chair, for the time. God bless the U.S. Virgin Islands. Thank you very much, Senator Javon James Sr., and the next senator would have been up to speak is Senator Angel Bulquez, but he sent in a letter, so I'll have that read into the record real quick, and then we'll proceed. September 21st, 2023, Honorable Novell E. Francis Jr., President, 35th Legislature of the Virgin Islands, Capitol building charlotte amali vi-00802 dear mr chair please be advised that due to a previously scheduled off-island engagement i will be unable to attend today's committee of the whole please mark my absence as excused and forward any documents to my office thank you for your time and understanding sincerely angel bulquez jr senator at large 35th legislature of the virgin islands uh thank you very much madam clerk please mark senator bulquez as excused uh next up it will be senator donna a frank gregory you recognize via three minutes thank you mr chair and good 1:49:30 afternoon to my colleagues and good afternoon to the good evening to the people of virgin island i'm going to start with uh mr brown so mr brown um naturally you will need a czm permit for this particular project and if yes uh you're also going to need uh a army corps engineer permit as well correct that's correct yes good so um when do you anticipate that you will get all of these all of these permits done and this project completed so um army corps of engineer uh i guess is the um most unpredictable timeline um to some extent give me an anticipated timeline i would say 18 months 18 months how long 18 months by 18 months okay well you know the army corps takes a long time but we have to push on this this is a major economic uh development project that's you know we're rebuilding the economy and i know that this this particular area was damaged since 1980 so this is a restorative site so i definitely appreciate that um we are we do have an 1:51:40 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) 11 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole investor who's very interested in moving this along what is the investment do you have any idea of what that is not yet no so you have you don't have any idea as to what this is going to cost yeah so i i have an idea i i would say that this investment um with the the reason is is just there's a lot of moving parts there's a portion of the site that's currently being rehabbed and being built um there's a a hotel that's being proposed and a marina i would say in um in totality that project is likely in the 15 million range thank you and that's and i i just wanted a number because my time will be called so that's important to note that um this particular project will bring a 15 million dollar infusion into the the territory and particularly the island district of saint croix and it means that we will see the revenues in our tax rules that's all i was trying to accomplish here uh mr stevens the building that you you are looking to uh acquire move into uh is in the historic districts uh are you in talks with the historic preservation 30 seconds yes senator and how is that how are those talks going uh uh there's been no there's been no issue okay great um again this is a major economic driver and we definitely appreciate investors um looking at our different towns and looking to invest in them so much appreciated uh mr chatoli uh i have one question for you i'm definitely in support of this measure i want have a quick what what measure will you put in place to ensure that what you are um proposing moving your your additional your other business will not be an eyesore for those traveling on the melvin h evans highway no absolutely not so there won't be an issue no okay um i feel like i'm just rushing a little bit but i am in support of these measures i will definitely drill down i'm in support of them barring no issues that i will learn before i vote but i'm definitely in support of economic development in the territory and we know that our the island district of saint croix can always always use more economic development and it helps us with our our our roles and our tax roles and we will be able to provide government services so thank you for uh stepping forward to provide business opportunities here in the territory thank you mr chair uh thank you very 1:53:51 Thank you very much, Senator Frank Gregory. Mr. Brown, I wanted to ask you, are you also instrumental in the other projects that's been done by Z Property VA LLC? Yes. I just wanted for you to put on record a little bit of the development that occurred in the general area thus far by this Z Property LLC. Yeah, so Z Property VI, they've been very active in the hospital street area. So there's been quite a few properties along that stretch leading from the King Christian, as you leave King Christian and pass the fort heading towards that Gallows Bay intersection, that they've been really lots that have been in bad shape my whole life. And so there's about five or six small residences on townhomes that they've been rehabbing along that stretch. So it does comprise a pretty exciting change for that street. And it probably includes about six or seven different parcels right now that they've been able to reposition. 1:55:46 That includes the area with the Mocha Jumbies? That's correct. So that's that's one of the the properties that they were able to put back into use There is a residence across the street and there are some other Properties currently under construction of the townhomes just as you turn the corner heading out Very well. Thank you. Thank you for that. I'll send it up Milton E Potter you recognize for your three minutes at this time Thank you very much Mr. Chair, good evening colleagues, good evening to our presenters before us today. 1:57:00 Most of the questions that I had were asked and answered, but in general, I am supportive of all three initiatives, rezoning initiatives that are before us. Today, it seems to be a very viable opportunity for us to enhance business development on the Big Island, which is always good. But I wanted to ask Ms. Laplace, and I know the paperwork that you submitted really verified that the neighboring individuals and other stakeholders did not protest or did not object to any of the rezonings that were before us. 1:57:36 I just wanted to ask you, just put it on the record, that just in the spirit of transparency, All potential neighbors, neighboring property owners, they had a full opportunity to understand their rezoning proposals. And they chose basically not to object. Correct, Senator. So right now what we do is we have the file electronic, as well as the paper copies. So clients are able to review it prior to the hearing. 1:58:16 They can attend the hearing or they can also review after as well as listen to the recording of the hearing and submit comments during the public comment period. Thank you, Mr. Plaz. Mr. Brown, how many hotel rooms, I don't know if you mentioned it earlier, how many hotel rooms are being proposed to be built? 48. 48, okay. And Mr. Chetoli, with regards to the scrap metal surrounding the property, what is your proposed strategy for disposing of the scrap metal? 1:58:51 Well, this scrap metal is being processed, cut, and shipped to whoever is going to buy it. One minute. Pierre Recycling is one of the companies that have been doing scrap metal in Hesse and elsewhere and I sell some of my metal to them when the big boats come in. Thank you very much, Mr. Shitoli. I am supportive of all three rezonings, as I mentioned before, and at the appropriate time, subject to unforeseen developments. You can count on my support on the rezonings. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the time. 1:59:28 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) 12 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole Thank you very much, Senator Potter. Real quickly, before we go to the next senator, which would be Senator Maurice C. James, I wanted to ask you, Mr. Brown, I know that that location that you spoke about, even in your photo, you show where the Virgin Islands Police Marine Unit is at. Can you speak to any dialogue you have had with that entity or what's happening in that space in respect to make sure that there is safe access and everything else in regards to VIPD and the Marine Unit? Yeah, so VIPD borders our lot on the north side, on the northern boundary. 2:00:23 So they have, they store everything there. We haven't had any issues with them. They're aware of the work that we're doing, and they've been very helpful, quite frankly, with, you know, neighbor type of issues. So nothing that we're proposing is going to impede any of their operations. They have their own equipment. I think that might need repair as well. But there's nothing that we're proposing, whether on the land or at sea, that will impede their water rights. 2:01:05 Additionally, have you come across any discussion in respect to the expansion of the boardwalk heading east? So have there been anything that your company had been involved in in respect to that? Yeah, I think that's way above all pay grade. I've reviewed previous proposals for that boardwalk and discussed with different planners. And I think there's a certain amount of consensus that would be needed by various agencies to pull that off. It certainly fits right into what we're proposing here and it would be helpful. And so we would support that. But there hasn't been any discussions as we get outside of our boundary. Very well. 2:01:36 Senator Maurice C. James Esquire, you're recognized for your three minutes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, Virgin Islands. Good evening, testifiers. Good evening, everyone in the room. Good evening, colleagues over in St. Thomas. And first of all, my questions are a little different. Mr. Brown, I want to start with you. The Z Property LLC, V-I-L-L-C, the owners, are they in the hotel business? They're in the hospitality business. Hospitality. 2:02:22 Have they ever run a hotel before anywhere else? Operated? No. No. Okay, so this would be the first time. Yeah, and an operation of the hotel is still something that's being discussed. So oftentimes developers would build properties and then they'd have an operator come in, hand it over to a hospitality expert. Yeah. I was thinking along that line. The bricks that I saw in the picture, are those bricks all going to be incorporated? Must they be incorporated in the entire rebuilding of the hotel, the property? 2:03:03 Yeah, that's an excellent question. There's a ton of brick there, and they've been using it. If you go on Hospital Street, you'll see that brick. This morning, we got nudged by HPC to add brick in places we weren't planning to, so they're using the brick. The brick is beautiful. It's beautiful, yeah, so it's being used, yeah. Okay. And I'll also say it's a return on investment that's tough, right? It's very, I mean, someone is out there cleaning that brick by hand, and so they've been committed to it, and it's working so far. It looks good. It looks beautiful. And, you know, I was thinking, too, the amount of work that goes into cleaning. They're spending quite a bit of money. I want to, I may come back to you, but I wanted to go to Mrs. Stevens. and ask you you met you know I am on the housing committee and one of the things here is there's a shortage of housing stock and you you said luxury but then you went back to middle-income property and I was wondering what do you consider middle income if you were to build homes here what would the price range be one minute that's a that's a challenging question I know well what I think we can do on the island is reduce the time and the skill sets required by taking some of that complexity off the job site and putting it into a factory and or a controlled environment where it's produced you know the cost of construction is always measured by the level of finish and the size of the home but we have six houses being proposed I believe it's in Mount Welcome with the Housing Authority and we we qualify for it and we're being considered based on 2:03:41 my conversations with the general contractor from Tillman construction so So getting homes that are in the $400,000 to $600,000 range, while that's still, to me, expensive, that's very doable, but it's just a level of finish. Mr. Chairman, may I wrap up? $400,000 to $600,000. If you're about $250 a square foot, that's a fairly reasonable cost on the island, whereas Most costs start at $3.50 a square foot and go on up, depending on which side of the island and the neighborhood you're building in. 2:05:42 Thank you. Is it possible for you to be able to use any of Mr. Chattoli's scrap metal? Well actually, I was using his pump today to pump about 30-some yards of concrete in the foundation. So I was looking for Uriah, when they said Mr. Cittoli was here, I thought Uriah was going to be here. I was just wondering. Is that possible though? 2:06:21 Is that true? Yeah. It is? Yeah. We're still, you know, the idea is to try to use as much as we can on the island. But we do bring in, you know, we do have to import raw materials in here. And the beauty of manufacturing and that's being able to create those materials here. having to import finished products from somewhere else. Thank you. Mr. Cittoli, I know your property, I know your business, I know you. So I don't have any questions for you, and I will support all three measures. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 2:06:49 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) 13 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole Thank you very much, Senator Maurice C. James. Next we'll go to Senator Ray Fonseca, you recognize your three minutes. Blessings. Pleasant. Good evening to all the listening audience real quickly. Mr. Stevens, I wanted to follow up on that line of questioning of the education chair, Senator education chair. So you're saying that is about 250 to 350 to square foot costs. yes yes sir you know in construction there's so many variables uh that can no no i didn't just say yes okay so um the trusses know the floor trusses in your system what type of flooring would be would it be a three inch cap concrete floor uh web um steel how would the floor be over that trust what type of floor you have so we have a three quarter inch magnesium oxide board that um is used as a substrate as a subfloor um whereas major down here everyone would be using the three-quarter inch uh pressure treated lumber which has you know vocs volatile chemicals in it uh chromium copper stuff that's not healthy you know it's not good for your system it wouldn't be a concrete floor it would be the magnesium board floor yes that's the first layer and then you can actually put another layer on you can put concrete on it you can put tile on it there's you You could put hardwood flooring on it, vinyl. It could be finished in a variety of finishes depending on what the client is looking for. 2:07:26 Okay, and then the roof would be exposed trusses, or would it be a drop ceiling type roof? The trusses, you can have, we can manufacture a variety of trusses, vaulted uh cathedral style gable hip uh shed i mean the engineering is limited um the inside could be finished with any type of it could be finished with drywall it could be finished with the magnesium oxide board the exterior can also be uh the mgo a three-quarter inch mgo what's asking about the roof not the exterior please answer my question don't give me any additional information i want to ask specifically so you do you use welding welders to attach those steel framing you said it's aluminum framing do you use welding or it's a bolt how do you attach it we use um screws uh these are self-tapping screws varieties if there's no welding in order to fabricate our fabricator components 30 seconds okay that's good you know all of these three um a very good um proposal here um i just wanted to mention to you one thing uh mr stephens on page two of your letter you mentioned a six home housing project with the housing community we don't use that word here we say a housing development just for the future reference so real quickly i wanted to go to um alan um that's a very good project i i'm very much in in in favor of that i think it's a very needed development and also um the first one uh with um with mr brown um i can see that being a very needed development that particular area 2:09:24 since i think 1980 so i am definitely in favor of all three of those so thank you very much mr president for the time uh thank you very much senator fonseca thank you very much senator next we'll go to senator diane tk part you're recognized for your three minutes thank you mr chair and good evening colleagues good evening to the people of the virgin irelands though who those who are viewing and listening and the testifiers um who are here before us today I'm always happy when I see Ms. Lea Laplace make good recommendations on development, so I'm happy that we don't have any oppositions really happening tonight. Let's talk about Bill No. 35.0134. I look at this project as a revitalization for the town of Christianstead. i'm here thinking is there a design already for that hotel there's been a concept for the hotel is that concept where there is an event of a high tide that there's under there's parking under the hotel that's correct okay so i i worked at dpnr and that was a few years ago and i remember seeing the plans and i was i was really taking back because i'm so ex i was so excited then for that project and here it is now okay so just for clarity i think that was the previous owner that was the previous yeah so someone had a concept developed because these plans have not made us with the dpnr okay but the flood zone requires that condition that you just spoke about where we have that first floor raised so okay so that was one of my my 2:11:23 concerns that if there is a hotel that it's elevated parking on any so in event that there's high tide great um mr chatoli um i know that mr laplaz mentioned on the south side that on the the south side of the airport, there would be a buffer. I think one of my colleagues asked about the aesthetics, if you would be able to see stuff from the highway. Are you leaving that buffer on the north side, all the trees? Are you going to be clearing those trees on that side? 2:13:23 Yes, the trees will be cleared, yes. Oh, that's a concern for me, Mr. Chotoli. It's gonna be fence, you know. fence we don't want to see what's inside I know I know so I'm hoping that you leave that buffer on the north side that means all the trees one minute that it remains there so we don't have to really see what happening there in that little industrial area okay I don't know if that can happen mr. Chotoli but that That would be real nice. One question also for you, Mr. Chotoli, would you be storing any hazardous waste, any used oil? No. What about the steel or the stuff that you have there? Any oil or anything on those stuff? 30 seconds. No. Okay. 2:14:03 Thank you. Mr. Stevens, you have your construction manufacturing of building components. Are you going to be using all steel for your manufacturing? Yes, Senator. So you know in Nivolgin Islands, we are all around South Water. Tell me the lifeline of this steel. So you build a home, our homes don't really make 90% of steel. What is going to be the lifeline or the length that the steel of building homes or any structure, how long would they last? Time. That's a great question. 2:14:58 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) 14 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole It all depends on the coatings that are used to protect that steel. So coming to the Virgin Islands, while there's certain types of coating ratings that are used in the in the steel industry g60 g90 these are coatings that architects engineers that use to determine the type of steel coating and how they can be used what could they can be exposed to primarily in the in the states we were using a gene g90 but the code was only requiring a g60 so if I could just use my hands as an idea of you know so g60 would be about right here g90 is right here the coatings that we're using is an AZ 150 it's an aluminum zinc with a little bit of silicone on it it's up here now the when you're building frames our frames aren't exposed are supposed to be exposed to the weather they're encapsulated and and so as long as the buildings are encapsulated they they could last hundreds of years even concrete buildings if they're not properly maintained, you can go down and you can see a number of buildings that have been poured in concrete that were destroyed, you know, by Hugo, and they are just literally deteriorating. So anything that's not maintained is not going to last. But I can tell you that the buildings that we have, you know, primarily the United States, the northern, it's rated for this coastal environment. The claddings and the coatings we have are going to do fantastic in here. I've got buildings built in Sri Lanka, I've got buildings in churches and schools built in Haiti and up and down the coast of the Mid-Atlantic. 2:15:43 And it's not me coming in here with the new technology saying, hey, this is what I'm bringing. This is what the industry has been using for the past 50, 60 years. So stand by these coatings and their durability against the severe weather. Okay. And one last question. You won't be generating any used or hazardous waste on that facility? No, ma'am. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Senator Capehart. Next, we'll recognize Senator Kenneth L. Gittins, the majority leader. 2:17:28 You recognize for your three minutes. Thank you, Mr. President, and good evening to all. zero one three four uh first mr clarence brown how are you doing good good so earlier i was trying to figure out where was this former hotel and restaurant and the president reminded me quickly that yeah young whippersnapper coming up and that place might have burned down before that you don't even remember so now I have an idea as to where the the area is but I must say that your project gives me great hope for St. Croix and especially in our downtown area because there's a structure that I'm thinking about in Frederick said that I'm like oh my gosh I can't believe we have allowed this to burn down and gone like this, which is the Durant Tower. The only thing that's there is the remains of the foundation, I guess. But you're giving me hope that a developer can come in here and totally revamp this. but my concern is relative to the historic preservations. Do you have any, or your clients have any concerns regarding the historic preservation restrictions, in short? 2:18:01 No, we have a great relationship with HPC. We deal with them quite often. Use the first one to say that. Kudos. so I'll also say the work that's currently ongoing on the site is already approved by HPC and so we'll be going back to them for the remainder of the project what we anticipate kudos to you we're gonna stay on that high road right about now so how many boats are you will you be accommodating in this project we'll we'll figure it out right now we drew about eight slips right we We have to confirm depth. One minute. And water rights. 2:19:40 And so we have some things to sort out to get to an exact number. But we're looking for a small marina, 8 to 10 slips. Okay, what about cars? How many vehicles would you be able to park on this property? We're showing about 17 cars, I believe, currently there. And this is something that, again, HPC has been great in understanding that um the downtown stays they're you know they're excited to walk around town so good and given the water problems that we currently have with with with um the water and power authority supply do you have any concerns uh regarding this because i'm looking at your infrastructure and your water needs will be supplied by public water line aren't you concerned about this So that's our primary source of water, and we will make sure that we get that filtration system built as well. But there's a potential that we will end up building systems as well to supplement, as well as access to a nearby system. That's what I wanted to hear. 2:20:23 Thank you. 0136, Mr. Shetoli. Mr. President, I'm going to ask you for a little indulgence ahead of time. Mr. Shetoli, how are you? Okay, sir. Listen, I commend you and your sons, the family, for actually seeking to come into compliance with this, because I was truly concerned with what was going on there on the highway. Okay. It actually looked like a second landfill coming there, and I didn't like that sight, that look at all. And I'm truly concerned. I see that you have scrap metals and some other stuff you say you store in there. What are they? Because I'm still concerned with you being that close to the airport and don't want anything near what would look like a landfill or anything to create any fires and things there to shut down our airport. 2:21:31 Time. No, I mean, a lot of the stuff we have there is used equipment, like used trucks, graders, you know, all kinds of equipment. Right, but you're saying used equipment, are these vehicles just being stored in like a junkyard, or they're just used trucks that are currently still in use? Well, some stuff you can use still, but it's not going to be caught up and shipped out. so I was that cut up on ship out turn around time looks like maybe back next year because the the boat you know comment you know sometimes it's maybe I mean, we passed September already, but most of the guys that buy from, they 2:22:30 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) 15 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole are recycling. The ship comes in sometimes around March. All right, so we'll have a conversation offline. Mr. Stevens, quickly, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. And it sounds like you two have some big plans for us here in the Virgin Islands. How long do you envision operating in the downtown Frederickstead area? Maybe another year. Another year? Yeah. That's it? 2:23:24 But I'm looking at finding some property and staying in the west. On the west, I want to stay in Frederickstead because I've heard the west is the best. Exactly. That's why I want to know where you're going. One year, you're looking at? I can tell you it's not going to be east, Senator. Do you believe that you will outgrow this particular location where you're at? We've almost already outgrown it. I mean, we... There you go, Wapa again. 2:23:56 Go ahead. No, our goal is to, you know, this is our step up. You know, get on the island, get some projects under a belt, and then, you know, then grow. But it's hard to lease space from somebody when you can build your own space. And you said in your testimony you have four employees now. Will you be hiring more staff once this variance goes through and expanding your operation? Yeah, the H&H contract itself that's been permitted by DPNR, we're going to add probably maybe another eight employees. and there's there's so much room for growth it just really depends for us being able to not over promise and be able to deliver what we say we can deliver great and lastly I monitoring the hearing from upstairs in my office I think I did hear you say something about meeting international building standards how does this equate to VA building codes so when we when we design an engineer stuff we first start with Miami-Dade and some of the strictest code requirements and then that's where we start from and then we work with the clients budgets to determine where we go from there for example the building for the Castle Coakley, we have that designed and engineered for 220 mile an hour sustained winds, not three-second wind gusts, but sustained winds. 2:24:24 That's a pretty heavy-duty, you know, structure. And the way that we clad our buildings and build our buildings, they're somewhat impact resistant. Whether a car gets lifted up and thrown into the building, that's a whole other thing. But certain flying debris, our buildings will be, you know, will be able to sustain certain impacts and things like that. So within the industry itself, it's a highly, you know, regulated, and we're not kind of coming in here with a new ballywick or a new thing saying, hey, this is me, this is Cat 5 Builders, you know, we're building something new. This is a time-tested, used all over the world. 2:26:11 So cold-form steel framing is an advanced building system for the United States, but not for Europe, not for Australia, not for New Zealand, not because they don't have the other option of trees and wood and concrete and cement block. Well, thank you for that. Looking forward to having a sidebar conversation with you as well. Thank you. And just know that we need some hurricane shelters, too. Look forward to building them. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Chair, for your indulgence. Thank you very much, Senator Gittins. Next, we'll go to Senator Joseph. In the essence of time, let's go to Senator Joseph. 2:26:53 You're recognized for your three minutes, Madam Secretary. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. A pleasant good evening to all of the testifiers and, of course, the people of the Virgin Islands and my colleagues who are still here in the conference room as well as in the legislative chambers. I want to start off my questioning first with Mr. Chetole. I had the opportunity to visit two of the three sites that we are discussing this evening, and your site was the one that I was unable to visit because we weren't able to connect and I'm hoping that we can be able to connect sometime as before the vote I don't know how that's gonna happen but nonetheless I wanted to ask you relative to what types of business you said I understand in previous questions you said you're gonna put some trucks or what type of businesses do you plan to put there? Because I wasn't too clear on the specific. 2:27:36 If you're talking about plot four, we're planning to do an office, and we have a trucking company we're going to move to that site. And all our scrap trucks, equipments, and stuff, we put it in that property because... Okay, and you're not planning to bill on the site. Are you planning to bill a structure on the site or put in a trailer or something to house your office? Yeah, something like that, yeah. 2:28:49 A trailer? Yeah. Okay, but not to put any, you wrecked anything. Okay, next to Mr. Stevens, I had an opportunity to visit your site and your operation. and I really don't have that much questions for you because most of those questions were asked by my colleague and I asked some of the same questions earlier today when I visited your site. I wanted to ask you one question regarding your lease. You mentioned your lease is going to be up soon for this property. It's basically a month to month. 2:29:21 Month to month. Well, I've got a lease for a year. One minute. I want to say about, I'm sorry, 18 months. And so right now they don't have any plans for the building. You know, normally, you know, I didn't want to lock myself into, you know, a five-year lease when my plan is to, once I get my, once I get my approval from the EDA or. To be a contractor. 2:29:59 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) 16 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole No, to be a new business with the Economic Development Authority. That would give me the ability to purchase property with some tax benefits and make a further investment it's hard to lease space when you can manufacture and build your own space at a fraction of cost that you'd pay leasing it so my goal is is it's a it's a stepping stone for me to get into a larger facility that i could maintain and own myself so my question would be to dpnr so you um grant use variance to an applicant even though they are not uh the owner and they're going to be on a temporary lease. Ms. Laplace? 2:30:25 Yes, Senator. The property owner is the one that basically would give the approval for this tenant to go ahead with the process. So the property owner would be the one deciding if they would continue using that use variance. Okay. And just for the edification, can a use variance you can now subdivide once you have it for that specific use? Do you mean the property? If the property is subdivided, then yes, the use would apply to every portion. Okay. Mr. Chairman, let me just wrap up with Mr. Brown. 2:31:04 Mr. Brown, I did have an opportunity to visit your site this afternoon. I want to really commend you as well as the owners of the property for being so inventive and sticking with it. How long has this project been in the plans? Probably four years, so it's had different processes that we had to go through, but we were able to get the one portion of the site that's not in CZM up and running, which is the work that's currently ongoing, the historic rehab. 2:31:43 Okay. And how many persons do you think you will be employing in the overall project? I'm looking at about 50 employees. 50 employees. Okay, I don't have any objections to any of the projects. I really want to commend DPNR for the work that you've done with these projects. It's definitely an economic boon for the St. Croix district. Typically I would have an issue especially with a B1 designation, but this is already a B1 and there aren't any residential areas in close proximity. Thank you so much mr chairman for the time and you will be getting my affirmative vote at the appropriate time thank you thank you very much senator joseph and next the chair will recognize the vice president and vice chair um marvin blighton for his three minutes thank you so much mr chair and good evening to the testifiers in particular miss laplace machus mr chitola mr brown and mr stevens and thank you guys for your testimonies um i do support rule number 35.0134 that deals with hospital street and a 15 approximately 15 million dollar investment in christiansand town in respect to a marina and a hotel that's economic development and jobs so definitely i will be supporting that also i support the number 35.0136 um in his um requests for his um expansion of his business in respect to 35.0138 i have some more questions i have for this investor and in the development basically it's a steven steven good evening i have some further questions for you in respect to your 2:32:21 structure i know you stated that you have six potential um homes to build for the housing finance authority uh what's other what's the square footage of these homes may i ask i believe the the they're close to 1500 square feet each 1500 square feet about 1500 1500 And you spoke to somewhere in the price range of $300,000 to $600,000 per home? So our aspect of the project, we are only the manufacturer of the building structure. construction of the home the finishing the windows the doors all that is is falls under the the general contractor who's actually building the building and i am not really privy to those costs because we're just supplying the building component the structure understood um and in respect to you you have a a contractual license for virgin honest or that's why your partner or you're partnering with someone else in that respect so you know our primary role on the island is as is eventually as a manufacturer and as a manufacturer we will um sell to the the market the which could be an end user someone who maybe builds his own home has the experience to do so or a contractor a general contractor a builder developer very well in terms of your product what gauge is your material in terms of the steel what is the size in terms of gauge so the the shielding yeah the well the gauge of the seal that we use uh ranges uh from 16 gauge uh 18 gauge and 20 gauge 20 gauge being the thinnest is what the industry regulates as a minimum thickness that you are able to use when you make light gauge steel framing 2:34:17 we use a grade 80 steel that has a high tensile strength so in reality our 16 gauge steel acts like a 14 gauge steel so there's some technical engineering that we could get into i'd be glad to share with that but our primary gauges are 16 18 and 20 gauges 30 seconds And your exterior, your exterior, the frame, you have steel exterior and interior or just exterior? The structure, I would say the bones, the skeleton is the cold formed steel. And the exterior finish is, or sheeting, would be the magnesium oxide board. and then there's another layer of exterior finishes that can be applied depending on what the look and finish of the home or building needs to be. The interiors can be... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Let's see, sir. Sorry. So on the interior, on the interior side, underneath the finish, we use a thermal reflective insulation that radiate that reflects about 97 percent of the heat energy from coming inside the building this reduces the uh this will reduce the thermal uh the thermal heat that actually transfers through the building you see this in and concrete buildings in block buildings during the day they absorb all this heat and then when the sun sets it's actually hotter inside the house than it is outside the house so we have the the ability to extract the heat that gains during the day and when the sun set that we have the 2:36:24 ability to extract that heat out of the building so when you're trying to cool your house you actually have a lower energy demand so you know we're trying to keep the heat from coming inside the building so on that inside once you get past 2:38:13 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) 17 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole that thermal reflective insulation then you have another finish that could be drywall that could be another layer of the MGO that's primarily how we're building and building out the interiors is drywall I'm just want to note on one other note regarding the dry regarding the drywall I didn't believe it until I saw it the termites are eating the paper off the drywall so the termites being so aggressive they're actually eating the paper on the drywall if i may conclude um you may conclude um slider okay very well um you also spoke to um the steel structure that that includes the roof and what type of um beams are you using for for the structure in terms of the roof whether it's a cable or hip roof what type of beans are you planning to use for the roofs because you know haneck um territory in the caribbean we prefer hip roof because it's more um it's better for wind etc when it comes to hurricane can you speak to that with your structure uh yes sir we the the hip roof we actually can um with our software that we have here in our that we have we can design and engineer any type of hip roof uh cable i mean so the hip roof is something that we would be able to do kind of it's pretty straight pretty straightforward for us so we can the goal is is to provide that same look that the you know the culture is requiring down here the caribbean the west indy style look with the with the hip roofs and the low profiles uh and the finishes and the details well thank you for um for all of your testimony and i look forward to doing more um research in respect to um what you're planning to do in the territory because um it's very important when it comes to our housing crisis and housing um structures in the territory in terms of assuring that they're built properly and they can basically withstand any type of hurricane moving forward in terms of damage etc so mr chair i want to thank you for the extra time and thank you all for your testimonies uh thank you very much mr vice chair senator blighton and if the madam timekeeper put three minutes on the clock for me real quick um i'll be very considerate because it's been a long day and i want to make sure that my central staff is prepared ready for tomorrow which will also be a long day but i i will be remiss if i did not um recognize and really thank peter and marianne zelke for the work that they have done to transform the hospital street area i mean it's really been a work of art we truly appreciate what you have done um in that hospital street corridor and certainly i think you set the gold standard uh for a lot of the other infrastructure in the area so my commendation um of of course to um to you and peter as well as the Mr. Brown who seems to be leading the charge and you know putting some of that engineering together and design architectural design along with that whole corridor issue of course I'm particularly happy because I was instrumental in the construction of the hospital the building that housed the the police marine unit back in the days when I was with the Virgin House Police Department I was also instrumental in another infrastructure to be going up in that area, which is the VI Architectural Center for Built Heritage and Craft, Inc. I supported that endeavor. I was just notified recently by Ms. Mary Dima that the grant was approved, so we should see some work being done in that area as well. So that whole Hospital Street corridor will be something, and soon we'll get the Christian Stead Road paves. 2:40:26 I'm hoping that that could assist in really maintaining what's happening in that whole Christian said area and improvement that's required for there I also certainly know mr. Cittoli for quite some time over the years and I commend you for your work there I must agree with my colleague in respect to want to maintain the buffer because we don't we're very careful of aesthetics and driving down the highway we don't want to be exposed you know to whatever may be going on you know behind those trees within the within that work zone especially if you're storing trucks you have some of the the the metals as well as the um old vehicles the direct vehicles um in that area i don't think want to expose that to public view at this time until you're able to get that whole area clean up so um one minute take key to her recommendation and respect to that and i fully support this endeavor i look forward to the work that's been done by mr stevens and your family thank you of course for the ctech um individuals continue to make yourself available to support and assist them don't get discouraged um we're a little bit slow at moving things um here as a government um in the versions but nonetheless we're um slow but sure um you know so they'll certainly work with you in being able to get this done um and housing is something that we need yeah it's high demand here and i believe that the the industry that you bring in here could be um critical in us being able to to fast track some of the houses that we're seeing here um the houses over at mount welcome the um h and h building those are good um showcase that that will hopefully propel um your business experience further once you're able to complete those within a timely fashion don't get discouraged i must say 2:42:30 that because you know a lot of times we might not move fast enough you're building houses in three weeks not three weeks but that's how much we got the structure up yeah so um but i mean your house and reasonable time and it might take a little bit more time around here because again we have to be shipping and everything else we have a lot of the environmental um issues that plague us so supply chain issues so it may take a little bit more time so don't be discouraged um my time i've been called again it's certainly been a long day so what i'll do is allow for the the testifiers to give a 30-second closing and then this matter will be taken up tomorrow during our legislative session on St. Thomas and be voted upon. So we'll start off with you Mr. Stevens for your 30-second close. It's been a pleasure speaking it speaking to the Senate and the legislator tonight and answering questions. My door is always open if you're in Frederickstead please stop by see what we're doing. Talk to some of of my employees see the type of training that we're giving them and the 2:44:23 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) 18 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole opportunity that we plan to bring and continue to bring here in our quest to build better houses and build better buildings. Thank you very much. Thank you. And we'll go to you. Mr. Brown. Yeah, I'd like to just start by thanking the planning office for their hard work on these rezonings and getting us here with all of the documents that we need and and making sure everything is in order so thanks and thanks to the legislature for considering these requests that oftentimes give developers and residents an opportunity to either alleviate pain points or or move forward in development so additionally historic preservation committee and Sean Krager and the St. Croix committee they've been giving us the green lights that we need and it's been it's been it's been good you know so I want to make sure I take the time out to just thank all the supporting agencies in the government that we have to go through and of course on behalf of Peter Zilke and Marian Zilke, thank you. You're welcome. Next we go to Mr. Chitoli. Use the mic sir. 2:45:45 Yes, sir. We thank you. I mean, what is there in today? We thank Mr. Laplace to put this thing together to bring it to your attention. Thank you. Mr. Laplace matters, and before you speak, I want to thank you for at least, again, coming forward with your recommendation on these three economic engines, and I don't want to take the credit for this. I believe that there were quality applications and assisted you in making those decisions and making that recommendation. I've often said, you know, rather than just turning back or denying some of the requests that we need to work along with them to recommend either a lower standard of use variance versus a zone change or whatever, and I see here today that all three you have recommended approval on. So thank you for that. 2:46:47 Thank you. And good evening, and I just want to remind the people of the Virgin Islands, we're in middle of a comprehensive land and water use process the next set of town hall meetings will be in november so please stay updated the website is planusbi.com and please participate thank you uh thank you very much and um this concludes today's hearing thank you for my colleagues that stayed within the paint with me uh today it has been a busy day for the legislature we have had an education committee meeting this morning and it's been a long day for staff who who have covered both of today's meetings. Thank you very much, central staff. I especially want to thank the public affairs team, the reporters, journal staff, protocol officer, and all in support, Ms. Marina Picard, of course, my staff, and all involved in their contribution, security, and all towards the success of today's Committee of the Whole hearing, as well as the earlier hearing of the Committee of Education and Workforce Development. Tomorrow, the Senate will meet in the Committee of Whole, initially, to receive testimony on the renewal of the government's contract for health insurance, and then move into legislative session will act on today's zoning requests, leases, nominations, and the FY fiscal year 2024 budgets. I want to thank everyone, again, for today and the work that you have done here. God bless the Verzals. This meeting of September 21st, 2023 is hereby adjourned. Get home safe. 2:47:38 Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll see you next time. We'll be right back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You 2:49:35 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 Kenneth L. Gittens heard in this transcript as: Gittins, Kenneth L. Gittins 5x Senator Marise C. James the surname alone also matches: Javan James; Giovanni James Sr heard in this transcript as: James, Maurice C. James 5x Senator Ray Fonseca heard in this transcript as: Fonseca 4x Senator Angel L. Bolques, Jr. heard in this transcript as: Angel Bulquez, Angel L. Bolques Jr., Angel L. Bolquez, Bolquez 4x Senator Diane T. Capeheart heard in this transcript as: Capehart, Diane T. Capehart 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) 19 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole 4x Senator Javan James heard in this transcript as: Javon E. James, Javon James Sr, Jevin James 4x Commissioner Jean-Pierre Aureole 4x Senator Marvin Blyden heard in this transcript as: Blyden, Marvin A. Blyden 4x Senator Milton E. Potter heard in this transcript as: Potter 4x Senator Novelle Francis heard in this transcript as: Francis Jr., Novel E. Francis Jr., Novell E. Francis Jr. 4x Senator Samuel Carrion heard in this transcript as: Carrion 3x Senator Alma Francis-Heyliger heard in this transcript as: Alma Francis Heiliger, Francis Heiliger 3x Senator Carla Joseph the surname alone also matches: Clifford Joseph; Karla J. Joseph heard in this transcript as: Joseph 3x Senator Dwayne DeGraff heard in this transcript as: DeGraff, Dwayne M. DeGraff 3x Commissioner Jean-Pierre Oriel heard in this transcript as: Oriel 2x Senator Frank Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 2x Senator Fred Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 2x Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach heard in this transcript as: Roach 1x Senator Donna A. Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Fred Gregory 1x Senator Donna Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Frett-Gregory 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. Bill 35-0134 Act 8777 · An Act granting a use variance from the B-l(Business-Central Business District) zoning designation to Plots No. 7-a, 7-b, and 8-b Hospital Street. Christiansted Town, St. Croix to allow for a marina ---0--- Re it enacted by (lie Legislature of(lie Virgin Islands: SECTION 1. Pursuant to title 29 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 3, section 238a, a use variance from the B-I (Business-Central Business District) zoning designation to allow for a marina is granted to Plots No. 7-a, 7-b, and 8-b Hospital Street, Christiansted Town, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, consisting of 0.882 U.S. acres, as collectively described on Survey Drawing No. 5190, dated May 27, 2020. All other requirements of the B-l zoning Bill 35-0136 Act 8778 · September 22, 2023 · An Act amending Official Zoning Map No. SCZ-l I for the island of St. Croix to change the zoning designation of Parcel No. 4 Estate Paradise, Prince Quarter, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, from R-2 (Residential-Low Density-One and Two Family) to C (Commercial) ---0 Bill 35-0138 Act 8779 · An Act granting a zoning use variance for Plots No. 19 and 20 Prince Street, Frederiksted Town, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to allow for a building contractors office, shops and yards ---0 Act 6722 Act 6722 · (title not held) Act 8777 Act 8777 · An Act granting a use variance from the B-l(Business-Central Business District) zoning designation to Plots No. 7-a, 7-b, and 8-b Hospital Street. Christiansted Town, St. Croix to allow for a marina ---0--- Re it enacted by (lie Legislature of(lie Virgin Islands: SECTION 1. Pursuant to title 29 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 3, section 238a, a use variance from the B-I (Business-Central Business District) zoning designation to allow for a marina is granted to Plots No. 7-a, 7-b, and 8-b Hospital Street, Christiansted Town, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, consisting of 0.882 U.S. acres, as collectively described on Survey Drawing No. 5190, dated May 27, 2020. All other requirements of the B-l zoning Act 8778 Act 8778 · September 22, 2023 · An Act amending Official Zoning Map No. SCZ-l I for the island of St. Croix to change the 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) 20 of 21 Legislature USVI · | Committee of the Whole zoning designation of Parcel No. 4 Estate Paradise, Prince Quarter, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, from R-2 (Residential-Low Density-One and Two Family) to C (Commercial) ---0 Act 8779 Act 8779 · An Act granting a zoning use variance for Plots No. 19 and 20 Prince Street, Frederiksted Town, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to allow for a building contractors office, shops and yards ---0 Referred to but not found in our acts corpus: Act 6192 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) 21 of 21