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COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE 06/09/2025-HELD IN COMMITTEE BILL NO. 36-0065 Thirty-Sixth Legislature of the Virgin Islands March 28, 2025 An Act amending Act No. 8512 by removing the responsibility of the Virgin Islands Port Authority from constructing a warehouse on former Addelita Cancryn Junior High School campus to requiring the Port Authority to assist with the design, retrofitting and renovation of an existing warehouse located on Parcel No. 1B and 47B-1 Gasverks Gade, No. 3 Crown Prince Quarter, St. Thomas PROPOSED BY: Senators Kurt A. Vialet and Franklin D. Johnson WHEREAS, the Virgin Islands Department of Property and Procurement has recently 1 acquired Parcel No. 1B and 47B-1 Gasverks Gade, No. 3 Crown Prince Quarter, St. Thomas, 2 Virgin Islands, which will be used for the establishment of an administrative campus for the 3 Virgin Islands Department of Education (“DOE Administrative Campus”); 4 WHEREAS, under Act No. 8512, the Virgin Islands Port Authority was responsible to 5 construct a warehouse of not less than 35,000 square feet for the Virgin Islands Department of 6 Education on Crown Bay Fill Parcel No. 1, South Side Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 7 “the campus of the former Addelita Cancryn Junior High School”; 8 WHEREAS, the Department of Education has determined that it is best that the 9 warehouse, originally planned for the former Addelita Cancryn Junior High School campus, be 10 2 located on the new DOE Administrative Campus located at No. 1B& 47B-1 Gasverks Gade, 1 No. 3 Crown Prince Quarter, St. Thomas; 2 WHEREAS, after discussions between the Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Port 3 Authority (“VIPA”) and the Commissioner of the Department of Education, VIPA and DOE 4 have agreed that the warehouse is best located at the DOE Administrative Campus; and 5 WHEREAS, the Virgin Islands Port Authority has agreed to pay the cost to retrofit and 6 renovate the existing warehouse located on Parcel No. 1B and 47B-1 Gasverks Gade, St. 7 Thomas, Virgin Islands for the benefit and use by the Department of Education; Now, 8 Therefore, 9 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands: 10 SECTION 1. Sections 2 and 3 of Act No. 8512 are stricken and new sections 2 and 3 are 11 inserted to read as follows: 12 “SECTION 2. (a) In exchange for the title to, and the use and possession of Crown Bay 13 Fill Parcel No. 1, South Side Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Parcel No. 1-05303-0716- 14 00, consisting of approximately 13.74 acres, the Virgin Islands Port Authority shall pay the 15 Government of the Virgin Islands 50% of the income received from the commercial use of the 16 former Addelita Cancryn Junior High School campus and the payments must continue in 17 perpetuity, unless otherwise provided by law. 18 (b) The Port Authority shall begin making the payments on the 25th month after it 19 executes a lease for the property. The payments must be remitted to the Virgin Islands 20 Department of Finance not later than 15th day of each month and the Department of Finance 21 shall deposit the money into the Education Maintenance Fund, codified at 33 V.I.C. § 3092a. 22 SECTION 3. (a) The Virgin Islands Port Authority shall pay the cost for the design, 23 retrofitting and renovation of the warehouse to be located at Parcel No. 1B and 47B-1 Gasverks 24 Gade, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The warehouse must: 25 3 (1) be capable of storing both dry and cold goods for the school lunch program, 1 and must meet any other warehousing and storage needs of the Virgin Islands Department 2 of Education, except for maintenance and construction tools and supplies; 3 (2) consist of not less than 35,000 square feet; and 4 (3) include a reasonable parking area for use by the Department of Education. 5 (b) Not later than 90 days after the effective date of this act, the Executive Directors of 6 the Virgin Islands Port Authority and the Virgin Islands School Construction and Maintenance 7 Authority, and the Commissioners of Department of Property and Procurement and the 8 Department of Education shall meet and establish the timeline for completing the retrofitting 9 and renovations to the warehouse and any other matter related to the provisions of this act. 10 (c) Not later than 120 days after enactment of this act or before the commencement of 11 any retrofitting or renovations of the warehouse located at Parcel No. 1B and 47B-1 Gasverks 12 Gade, whichever occurs first, the Virgin Islands Port Authority shall provide the Legislature of 13 the Virgin Islands an architectural rendering of retrofitted warehouse, which must be retrofitted 14 to comply with the existing Virgin Islands Building Codes and be aesthetically pleasing.” 15 BILL SUMMARY 16 This bill changes the responsibility of the Virgin Islands Port Authority from constructing 17 a warehouse on former Addelita Cancryn Junior High School campus to requiring the Port 18 Authority to assist with the design, retrofitting and renovation of an existing warehouse located 19 on Parcel No. 1B and 47B-1 Gasverks Gade, No. 3 Crown Prince Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin 20 Islands. 21 BR25-0432/March 5, 2025/SLR/Revised March 6, 2025 22