Coral Bay Community Council

The Coral Bay Community Council will hold its next forum on Tuesday, March 4th at 6:30 pm at the John’s Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay. The St. John Commission on Youth will share the presentation they recently made to the Governor on the critical need for recreational facilities for youth on St. John, and their planned next steps to achieving their goals. They will share what they have learned, and what they plan to do next. The teens made an informative video that will be shown too. This is an opportunity to hear the young leaders in our community express their concerns, and find ways that we can all work together to support improving facilities and opportunities for our youth. Everyone is welcome!

CBCC MEETING: Monday, February 18th at 6 pm at the Johns Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay. Wanda Mills-Bocachica, Director of Comprehensive and Coastal Zone Planning at DPNR, will be our principal speaker. As chief planner of the Virgin Islands, she will share her division’s planned activities to improve and update the zoning and planning processes for the Virgin Islands, and specifically for St. John. There will be time for questions. There will also be a brief presentation of techniques recently used to construct more environmentally-friendly roads by Bob Carney. Everyone is welcome! For more information, please email coralbaycommunitycouncil@hotmail.com or call the CBCC office at 776-2099.

ST JOHN YOUTH – Save Tuesday, March 5th, for another CBCC Forum: the St. John Commission on Youth will share a video and their comments about the condition of recreational facilities on St. John and youth recreational needs. You won’t want to miss these excellent, involved young people in our community expressing their concerns.

The Coral Bay Community Council is holding its Annual Meeting on Monday, november 12th with refreshments at 5:30 and the meeting beginning at 6 pm. The meeting will be held at the John's Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay. The purpose of the meeting is elect board members, and to discuss past accomplishments, community issues, and CBCC's future agenda. CBCC's annual newsletter, reporting as a 501c3 nonprofit institution, is available at www.coralbaycommunitycouncil.org. Everyone is invited to attend the meeting and enjoy socializing with everyone before the meeting at 5:30pm. This is the beginning of the 2008 membership year. All Coral Bay residents are invited to join. For further information, please contact CBCC at 776-2099 or by email to coralbaycommunitycouncil@hotmail.com

The Coral Bay Community Council is hosting a meeting on the VI Forestry Stewardship Program – and its implications for reducing property taxes on eligible properties over 3 acres on Wednesday, September 19th, at 1:30 in the Nazareth Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall in Cruz Bay.

Ms. Marilyn Chakroff of the VI Agriculture Department, who runs the program, will explain it and lead the discussion. “Simply put, if a landowner of more than three acres makes a commitment to manage, protect and improve the natural terrain for a period of 10 years, and has a plan for doing so, they may be eligible for a 95% property tax exemption, similar to the agricultural exemption”, according to Ms. Chakroff. Sharon Coldren of CBCC noted that it might be possible to include a stormwater detention pond project within this designation.

All interested people are invited to attend. You may receive a copy of the program brochure by calling Ms. Chakroff at 778-0997 or by emailing CBCC at coralbaycommunitycouncil@hotmail.com for an electronic copy.

The Coral Bay Community Council will hold a workshop on the Property Tax Revaluation on Monday, August 13th, at 6pm at the Donkey Diner in Coral Bay.

Everyone is invited to bring their Coral Bay valuations and share information -to help ensure accurate valuations. A computer will be available to look up the http://www.vipropertyrevaluation.com/overview.htm website and view valuation details and comparable properties.

Here's info on property sales in Coral Bay for use in evaluating the correctness of the property evaluations in your neighborhood. The revaluation you got was supposed to be accurate as of January 2006. Stay tuned for more detailed info tomorrow. We are going to hold the Monday session at Donkey Diner - because we can use the wireless internet access there to get the property info.

COMPARING WITH OTHER PROPERTIES: Some recent sales have been at very high levels - and for premium properties. These may be influencing the values of much more average property. There have also not been many sales in the last several years in Coral Bay. Click here for a list of all Coral
Bay MLS sales since 2004. If you know of other sales that did not go through regular realtors, please give us that information, so we can add to the list.

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLAN MEETING - MONDAY AUG 6TH, 6 PM ,The Coral Bay Community Council and DPNR are co-hosting a public meeting to discuss a watershed management plan for Coral Bay focusing on storm-water runoff, sedimentation and erosion, and other land-based pollutants that threaten coral reef habitats. The meeting will be held on Monday, August 6th at 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the John's Folly Learning Institute. Anne Kitchell, of the Center for Watershed Protection, will present elements of the draft watershed plan, and there will be time for public comment and discussion. Other DPNR and government agency representatives will also be present to hear the community's input. PLEASE - SINCE SO MANY PEOPLE ARE VACATIONING NOW -WE NEED EVERYONE WHO IS HERE TO SHOW THEIR INTEREST & CONCERN BY COMING TO THIS MEETING!!

STORMWATER EROSION CONTROL: A NOAA-funded project to reduce stormwater run-off and develop a pilot watershed management plan is being done in Coral Bay this summer, with DPNR's blessing! A top national firm, The Center for Watershed Protection, will be in Coral Bay July 31st to August 7th. Their experts would like to meet with concerned citizens, homeowners' associations, developers, and neighborhood groups to talk about stormwater problems in their areas and how to prevent them. Please contact CBCC by email or phone, if you would like to meet with these experts and get some ideas about solving your problems, while they are here. We will arrange the site visit for your convenience - and hopefully provide you with some immediate expert ideas. Then - on Monday evening, August 6th, there will be a public meeting in Coral Bay to hear about their draft watershed management plan, our stormwater problems and possible solutions - and how we might fund and implement solutions such as stormwater sediment ponds

The Coral Bay Community Council has been invited by Concordia Resort (now called Estate Concordia Preserve) to use their brand new facility for our May 21st Monthly Forum. The Acting Superintendent, Martha Bogle,of the National Park will speak on the search of a new superintendent and the General Management Plans and answer questions about the park. Alvis Christian, Deputy Director of VITEMA will also speak briefly on the important topic of Hurricane Preparedness.

Concordia is generously providing refreshments for this meeting and welcomes us to tour the new facilities. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 PM (note earlier time), the meeting will start at 6 pm and end by 7pm on Monday May 21st.

Everyone is welcome. The Resort is located at John's Folly in Coral Bay. For more information, call
776-2099 or email coralbaycommunitycouncil@hotmail.com

If you care about reducing muddy runoff, it is important after this long drought period to check your silt fencing and build up your brush berms in anticipation of the heavy rains to come. Remember, silt fencing does not act primarily as a filter to the water; it acts as a dam to contain the silty water and mud behind it - thus it must be installed strongly enough to stay in place after a heavy weight of mud is leaning against it! Staking must be secure and the bottom six inches of the fence should be buried in rocks and soil. Silt fences -not silt flags! Help protect our Bay!

Rapid Watershed Assessment - USDA & EPA stormwater experts will conduct a watershed assessment of all drainage areas in Coral Bay on April 19th. This is the first step toward creating a plan and obtaining grant moneys for helping us install stormwater sediment retention basins, and possible ponds for agriculture in the Carolina Valley. Other problem areas and solutions will also be noted. This is one of the activities that has been spurred by the "Stewardship" program EPA announced at our CBCC annual meeting.

Friday, March 23rd, 6:30 pm - A "Meet and Greet" with the 27th Legislature is being hosted by the VI Unity Day Group. As of Wednesday, Ronnie Jones had confirmation from 9 senators. It is being held at the St. John School for the Arts and there will be also be "some brief recitals of our rich island talents" according to the flyer. The School is right next to the Legislature building in Cruz Bay.

Monday, March 26th, 6 pm - The Senate Committee of the Whole will meet on St. John at the Legislature for a hearing on the rezoning proposal by Sirenusa to add additional units to their site. We encourage everyone to attend and speak at this legislative hearing about the impact that the Sirenusa construction has had and will have on your quality of life. The developers are requesting to increase the number of units and the density of the project, so they can be assured of making money despite the poor choices they have made. This is an important opportunity to make the legislature aware of our concerns about how this development has progressed: getting developers to respect their neighbors, follow the rules, and have proper infrastructure beforehand - and not reward them for their actions of the last two years.

This is one of the few times the whole Legislature will visit St. John and we should use this hearing on the 26th as an opportunity to let the Legislature know our St. John concerns about the direction of development and the lack of infrastructure and planning, and the need to amend some of our building laws.

The new St. John Administrator, Ms. Leona Smith, was the guest speaker at the Coral Bay Community Council Forum held Monday Evening, February 12, 2007 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay.

The CBCC forum with our new island administrator, Leona Smith, was an excellent summary of the day-to-day problems that we need our new administrator's help in solving - as well as an opportunity to meet her and congratulate her. See the news coverage for details. They did a great job of covering it:
http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com
http://www.onepaper.com

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY - Monday Jan. 15th: St. John's celebration begins at 9 am at the Coral Bay Basketball Court. As CBCC's president, I have been asked to make a short speech of opening welcome, and, of course, there will be other speakers. Everyone is welcome to participate.

The Coral Bay Community Council Annual Meeting was held Monday, Nov. 6th from 6 to 7 pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute. Refreshments will be served. We will review our activities, talk about the future, and thank our many volunteers. This year we have a special guest.

Mr. Jim C. Casey, the Virgin Islands Coordinator for the US Environmental Protection Agency will use this occasion to announce a new program initiative focused on the Virgin Islands and Coral Bay. It should provide additional resources to bring attention to, and assist in resolving some of our stormwater runoff and other water quality problems. We will share alternatives for the Coral Bay Sign Project to get audience feedback. Everyone is welcome.

The Coral Bay Community Council Monthly Forum was held MONDAY, OCTOBER 23rd at 6pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute.

The Speaker will be Commissioner of Public Works, George Phillips. He will discuss plans for parcel 6-4 Estate Carolina, including the construction of the Vitran Bus depot, the cleanup of the fill and other possible purposes for this 5 acres of government-owned land. He will also talk about public infrastructure needs and land use in Coral Bay more generally. Everyone in Coral Bay is encouraged to attend and bring your comments and questions on this important and controversial issue. There will be an open discussion.

ANNUAL MEETING - Put Monday, November 6th, 6 pm at JFLI on your calendar for the CBCC Annual Meeting - we have some special things planned.

DIRECTOR ELECTION: The CBCC Board is requesting recommendations for nominations to fill vacancies on the Board in the upcoming election. Board members need to be residents or owners of land in Coral Bay, members of the Coral Bay Community Council and be dedicated to fulfilling the mission of CBCC. All service is volunteer. About 5 hours a month is required.

The rescheduled CZM Hearing for the Coral Bay Marina was held Thursday evening, July 13th, at 6 pm at the Legislature in Cruz Bay. It was postponed because both Mr. Harley and Mr. Somme were stuck in St. Croix when their seaplane could not make the trip because of heavy rain.

Many people are away right now - but if you are here, please come, listen, and voice your opinions on how the CZM decision should be made. We need to work to understand and support the CZM - Coastal Zone Management - decision-making process. If you are on-island - we need you at this meeting. Come support the process! Tell your neighbors!

DPNR will be holding a meeting with the St. John community this Thursday evening, May 11th, 5:30 to 8:00pm at the Legislature. Representatives from all DPNR divisions will be there to answer questions about development and regulatory concerns. Citizens will be able to speak their minds about any topic, including infrastructure and design concerns about the large scale construction projects underway or on the drawing board.

Also, the developers of the proposed Pastory Gardens multi-story condos will be there to explain what they want to do, and field questions and comments from the audience.

Regulatory enforcement has elements of discretion and interpretation. We need to be sure that DPNR understands the concerns of St. John's residents in HOW they are interpreting and enforcing the law, and that how they do their important jobs - is important to all of us!

This meeting is being held at the request of Catherine Stephen, a resident of Pastory, who contacted DPNR and made her concerns known - so they are responding.

NOTE: On the same evening, there is also a meeting about the ferry and barge services with the Port Authority and the Public Services Commission and the companies serving us: It will be at the Westin beginning at 6pm. We may need to divide our time between both meetings - or attend one of the meetings and have your neighbor attend the other - and say you are speaking for both. This meeting was set up by Senator Barshinger. (Everyone apologizes for the inadvertent double scheduling.)

1) CBCC Monthly Forum was a special meeting with the St. John Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Commission on Monday, April 24th at 6:30 pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay. CZM Members will discuss their interpretation of their role and the CZM law in the context of Coral Bay and St. John. They will also listen to our concerns and we will discuss the appropriate application of the law for the benefit of Coral Bay (without reference to particular projects). This will be a very important meeting-to learn about the realities of CZM review and discuss our community's goals in using this important development review and approval process. CBCC president, Sharon Coldren said: "If you care about the future of development and protecting the environment and the essential character of your community, it's very important to be at this meeting. Mark the date. Show the Commissioners that we care about their decision making on our behalf". Everyone is welcome to participate.

2) Development issues: We anticipate needing volunteers to research and follow up on a number of development issues starting to "froth" on St. John. There may be a group dwelling permit application coming here for condos on Bordeaux Mountain. It's being sold, but not permitted yet. Check out: http://www.islandiavi.com/bordeaux.htm
There is a DPNR misinterpretation of the definition of lofts causing some projects to propose three stories rather than two. We need some people willing to help (with legal/architectural knowledge) and some people willing to be very persistent in phone calls to DPNR and writing and other activities. If you have the interest and time in the next few months, please contact us. There may also be a CZM marina application very soon which will require detailed scrutiny from our members.

3) Passenger Ferry Service: Enjoyed your ride lately? No? The Public Service Commission (PSC) has put out a questionnaire asking for comments on the current service. We have placed copies at Connections East - come fill it out, we'll turn it in for you -or you can do yourself. Higher fares are being voted on this month by the Public Service Commission. Many of us feel that customer service has been extremely reduced in the last couple of years as ridership has grown. Please fill out the questionnaire and/or write a memo suggesting concrete ways they can improve service. Send it to CBCC if you like and we will submit. The PSC fax number is 340-774-4971.

4) Our CBCC Board Members: You know I'm here - since I write the emails - But it's time to acknowledge the very valuable and consistent efforts of our Board - to keep our organization going forward on the straight and true. When you see them -please say hello and thanks: Barbara Dalmida Thompson, Vice President, Marie Naisby, Secretary, Jean Cottrell, Treasurer, Joan Thomas, Kent Irish and Bonny Corbeil. My personal thanks to each of them for providing their own unique skills to our efforts. Without them, it would not be possible to run CBCC.

The CBCC monthly forum was held Monday, March 13th from 6:30 to 8pm pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay. This month there will be a presentation on community and land use planning processes for Coral Bay given by Sharon Coldren, the CBCC president. It will also include moving forward on the Vision Statement for Coral Bay. The attendees will be actively involved in expressing preferences and choices for Coral Bay. All residents and landowners in Coral Bay,including potential developers are encouraged to come. Everyone is welcome.

CLEAN UP - The Annual Coral Bay Cleanup will be Saturday, March 4th from 9am till it's done! (a couple of hours) Be there! We will work with the Coral Bay Yacht Club and any other organizations that would like to be involved. If you know of any area that needs cleaning up that day, besides the usual Inner Harbor shoreline and roads - please contact us, so we can plan for it.

The Coral Bay Community Council Monthly Forum was held Monday Evening, Feb. 13th, at 6:30 pm at the Johns Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay. This month will be an open discussion of concerns and issues in Coral Bay, including the draft Vision Statement for Coral Bay. Everyone is invited to come and share your ideas and opinions. Volunteers will be requested for various projects. For more information, contact the CBCC office at 776-2099

Coral Bay Community Council Monthly Forum for January 9th, was at the John's Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay.

Julie Wright who is Resource, Conservation and Development Coordinator, USDA - National Resource Conservation Service, will give a presentation on the Estate Bethlehem, St. Croix stormwater retention pond project which has recently been completed. Other members of the project team may also join us. In addition, we will discuss how we might work to replicate this important project in Coral Bay to deal with our storm runoff and create an agricultural water source.

Guy Benjamin School PLAYGROUND WORKDAY!!! Saturday afternoon, Jan. 7th. 1 pm till it's done! Bring gloves, shovels, buckets, wheelbarrows, paint brushes, bush clippers. We'll be cleaning up after the construction. Skinny's is providing cold drinks!

Reliance Housing CZM application for 72 affordable housing units at Calabash Boom - CZM decision hearing, Wednesday, Dec. 28th, 6:30 pm Legislature Building, Cruz Bay. If you are a fulltime voting resident, the board strongly encourages you to be there and bring your neighbors too. CBCC has a "letter to the editor" appearing in Monday's Tradewinds.

Guy Benjamin Playground - Over the children's Christmas vacation- Dec 26-Jan7, CBCC is making a big push to complete the construction of the equipment. Many have volunteered. We need more people with construction skills. Even if you are busy with guests and a job - most of what we need is 2 hours on one day and 2 hours or less on another day - to complete items. We have the hole digging and concrete pouring scheduled and need the carpentry and placing of equipment to work around that. Please call me asap if you are available at all, so we can get this done -- while we have two weeks of "construction site" not children's safety issues. Sharon at 693-5590 or 513-4298.

Decembers Coral Bay Community Council Monthly Forum meeting was Monday, Dec 12th from 6:30 to 7:30pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute. This month's speaker is Yvonne L. Tharpes, Acting Chief Legal Counsel, VI Legislature (and Coral Bay resident). She will speak on the VI legislative process and how the public can participate in it. Everyone is welcome!

CBCC's computer has died. Does anyone have one to donate? Or could fix ours? (A Windows 98 computer is fine for us at this point - we use it principally for member files.)

Don't forget to get your voices in practice for the Coral Bay Christmas Tree and Carol Sing, Dec. 14th, 6:30 pm at the Coral Bay basketball court. As always, all "villages" in Coral Bay -neighborhoods, organizations and groups - are encouraged to present and share a selection of carols. If you like, please bring a gift for a child (marked with age and boy/girl), so that we will have enough for all the children. ($ donations for gifts also accepted in advance - can be dropped off at the CBCC box in Connections East.) Please call the CBCC office at 776-2099 to get your community group of carolers on the program. (You can leave a message.)

FREIGHT: Is anyone sending a container down from the states this month and might have room for two pallets of playground rubber surfacing for Guy Benjamin School?

CHILDRENS' GIFTS: Part of the Christmas season is sharing - and seeing the joy on childrens' faces when they get a present. CBCC would like to
underwrite the gifts for the John's Folly Learning Institute Children at their annual Christmas program on the 21st, as well as at the whole community celebration on the 14th. Individual gifts you have chosen will be wonderful, also any cash donations to purchase gifts. For the 18 children at JFLI, we would like to have about $500 to spend on one suitable gift for each child and some "stocking stuffers". We are also seeking donations small and large for 30 to 50 children's gifts for the celebration on the 14th. Anyone feel like writing a check as SANTA this year?

If so, please email your commitment (so the presents can be bought) and drop your check off at our box at Connections East with a notation of its
purpose. (Yes, it's tax deductible too, as a charitable donation.)

The last few months have been sad and difficult for everyone on St. John,
let's all participate in the renewing Spirit of the Holiday Season.

Monday, Nov. 7th, 6 pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute. Everyone Welcome! Join for 2006 now!

Nov 3rd - Community - Police Meeting, Thursday 6pm - at the Donkey Diner behind Sputnik's. Be There! This will be a good opportunity to discuss community policing, meet some of the officers assigned to Coral Bay and police officials, and work on crime prevention and other issues of concern to us all - in the policing of Coral Bay.

Calabash Boom Housing: The CZM hearing on the Reliance Housing Project for Calabash Boom is scheduled for Oct 26th, 6 pm at the St. John Legislature. CBCC has made copies of their application available at Connections in Coral Bay and our office. There is also a full-size set of the drawings available at the Library in Cruz Bay. You may take home the copies in Connections by leaving a $5.00 refundable deposit. We also left a copy at the Calabash minimarket. CBCC has provided questions and comments for improvements and will testify at the hearing. Please share your ideas with us.

Rotary Dinner: October 22nd, Saturday at Miss Lucy's. Guy Benjamin and Avelino Samuel are being honored by Rotary for their service to the community. Dinner tickets are available at both Connections for $30.00 each and need to be purchased right away - Monday or Tuesday. Everyone is welcome - and Coral Bay especially! For info or tickets, you can also call Bill Willigerod at 776-0883.

St. John Call to Action for Planning - The petition letter is available for signature at both Connections, the K-2 video stores, Keep Me Posted and the Mail Center. Please sign this week - so it can be sent.

CBCC Annual Meeting and Membership Renewal Letter went in the mail this weekend.When you get yours, please return it right away! The Annual Meeting is Monday, Nov. 7th, 6 pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute. Everyone Welcome! Join for 2006 now!

Volunteers Needed: CBCC really needs some additional office volunteers and project volunteers to keep everything moving along smoothly. If you have a few hours to help, please give us a call.

Coral Bay Community Council meeting on Monday, August 15th, 6:30 pm at the St. John School on Gifft Hill (formerly Pine Peace) multipurpose room. We are having the meeting at a mid-island location to make it more convenient for all of St. John to join us in a discussion with the US Postal Service about our service problems and their plans for a new postal facility. Everyone is welcome. Please bring your concerns and share them.

Tiffany Gumbs, our St. John Postmaster has arranged for Pablo Claudio, Acting District Manager, and Robert Vazquez, Manager of Post Office Operations, to visit us from the Puerto Rico District Office. Postal Service Real Estate Managers from New Jersey Thomas Pino, Manager of Real Estate, New York Facilities office Dane Weir, Mgr. of Design and Construction are also traveling here for the meeting to talk with the community, and may announce future plans for new facilities..

Note this is not the usual "second Monday" time and place for our CBCC monthly forum, because we have a special opportunity to have off-island senior postal personnel come talk with us about our problems, service improvement and new facilities. All St. Johnians are welcome to come and participate to help improve our postal service.

The Coral Bay Community Council Monthly Forum held, Monday, June 13th at 6pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute. David Sharp, President and Chief Executive Officer of Innovative Telephone Corporation, will be the guest speaker at the June 13th Monthly Forum of the Coral Bay Community Council. The meeting will begin at 6pm sharp at the John's Folly Learning Institute.

Mr. Sharp will talk about the service expansion construction currently going on in Coral Bay, when applications for new service will become routine, and how to permanently resolve billing or service problems. He will also answer audience questions and listen to concerns about Innovative's various services.

Laurel Brannick, Park Ranger, will speak briefly about the Reef.org Great Annual Fish Count on July 16th. Friends of the Park has purchased fish identification kits for people who would like to snorkel their favorite areas and identify and count fish on that day or any other day. She will explain how to participate and will have kits for people.

The Coral Bay Community Council Monthly Forum held, Monday, May 9th at 7pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute.

This month's speaker will be Doug White, architect. He is one of the founders of the Island Green Building Assocation (IGBA). He will talk about their recently-released " Guiding Principles of Sustainable Green Building Design and Construction." Everyone is welcome!

March 7th, 2005

This will be the first in a series of meetings inviting groups of Senators to come learn about Coral Bay and discuss issues of local importance with our community. We will extend our usual format to 90 minutes or longer to accomodate the discussion. Senators Craig Barshinger, Louis Hill and Roosevelt David will be at the March 7th meeting. (Senate President Lorraine Berry and two colleagues will be at our April 11th meeting.)

The March 7th meeting will have the Senators engaging in a discussion with the community on escalating land values and property taxes, as well as presenting their legislative agendas. Everyone is invited. Anyone
wishing to participate in the CBCC task force on land values and property taxes is encouraged to contact the CBCC office at 776-2099.

Monthly Forum Meetings for the whole community are regularly scheduled for the 2nd Monday of the Month, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Johns Folly Learning Institute.

For those of you who couldn't be there, hope these articles help you keep in touch.

Vision for Coral Bay: The first report on the results of the vision
sessions was presented by volunteer Terry Mahr. The written Draft of the
Vision Statement was passed out. WE NEED EVERYONE'S COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS ON NEXT STEPS. You can download a copy on the home page of our website:
http://www.coralbaycommunitycouncil.org/

News: The Reliance Housing Foundation project for Calabash Boom will enter the CZM process within the next few months. They met with our subcommittee last week to share the preliminary site plan and seek comments. CBCC asked the VI Housing Finance Authority to host a meeting in Coral Bay in March for the whole community in the evening -- to explain the eligibility for both developments: the apartments and the townhouses, and to share the latest site plans before the CZM process.

This week's Tradewinds newspaper also had an article about a 116-slip Marina proposal (on the site just north of Island Blues) that is entering the CZM process. Currently, the application is considered incomplete and will need to some additions before it begins the formal review process.

CBCC has requested DPNR provide us with formal information on major CZM projects such as these, prior to the public hearings, so residents will be able to be informed and participate in providing comments. DPNR will
provide the information and welcomes our input.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS: As the new year starts, we want once again to ask for volunteers for our committees and for some special projects. The Board has also decided to try to start a couple of task forces on issues of
significant interest. Here's the list below -- if you want to volunteer - please send back an email or call the office at 776-2099.

Land Use Committee ( topics: Marina, Reliance, Planning, Vision Statement, model development laws...)

Property Tax task force: Current problems, new tax ideas and exemption
possibilites for future (Do we have an expert among our members?)

We also need some volunteers for particular research and projects:
* GED Knowledge
* Pick up truck and volunteers for some special cleanup tasks
* Grant Writing
* Research on topics via internet and other
* Contacting community
* What would you like to do?

We still have Tee shirts and notecards for sale... Pictures and Order blank
on the CBCC website homepage.

AGENDA
Coral Bay Community Council
Annual meeting
November 8th, 2004
John's Folly Learning Institute

Thank you to Volunteers
Office, website, programs, committees,...refreshments, More, more more...

Thank you to the Board
Election of New Directors: Joan A. Thomas, Bonnie Blair & Beulah Dalmida-Smith

Choices, by Joan Roth
How do you see the future of life in Coral Bay?
It’s up to us and what we do, it could go either way.

Will our hills grow ever denser, the water brown with silt?
The mountains left eroded, with greed evolved to guilt/

Or can we stand united to reach a common goal?
To keep our ocean azure blue, our mountains green and whol.

To bind our lives together, connected black and white,
And forge a home where all can live in peace and free from strife.

I cannot see the future, can we do what it will take?
The one thing that is clear to me, it is our choice to make.

Fundraiser - T-shirts, tote bags and notecards -- get your order in -- volunteers needed to fill orders!!

Sat., November 13th, 9 to 11am Coral Bay Shoreline Clean-up
Bring gloves, sturdy shoes

Monday Dec 13th (usual time for CBCC monthly forum) - probably not this month.

Wed., Dec. 15 Coral Bay Community Christmas Tree Celebration -7pm at the basketball court.
Potluck with traditional island foods and Christmas foods from other places. Everyone welcome - caroling too!

Refreshments and socializing

The first Annual Meeting of the CBCC was held at 6pm at the John’s Folly Learning Institute. The meeting was called to order by President Sharon Coldren who welcomed members. Sharon introduced Alvis Christian, Vice President who also extended a welcome and thanked the JFLI for offering their facility for our meetings. Volunteers, people who made donations and members of the Board were thanked by all for their splendid work during the past year.

Election of Board Members – Bonnie Blair, Beulah Dalmida-Smith, and Joan Thomas were elected unanimously to three year terms by members with a hand vote.

Sharon outlined our accomplishments during the first year which included building a membership of 209 members. We also developed a membership brochure, set up an office, opened a bank account and established a website(coralbaycommunitycouncil.org). Also, letters were sent to government officials regarding CZM matters, police protection, roads, and Bay related issues. A voter registration drive was conducted and a well attended Candidates’ Night was held. We also submitted two separate grant proposals. CBCC is seeking a candidate to be our professional staff. Other accomplishments of the year follow in the committee reports. Not all the work was done “in committee” but these are theme areas the Council is working on.

Watershed – Kent Irish, Chairman, told members of the activities of the committee which included the emergency services mapping project in which all roads and buildings in the Coral Bay Watershed will be identified with signage. The committee is drafting environmental guidelines and identifying resources in Coral Bay. A Walkabout was held with CZM officials to discuss building problems and situations. He credited Barry Devine, USVI, for his assistance with the mapping project. The committee is locating all guts and studying the effects of erosion on them. They will be doing storm water chemistry assessment and will be detailing drainage control problems where they exist.

Land Use - Sharon Coldren, Chairman, said that the land use committee will seek to work with DPNR in their intention to redraft the Area of Particular Concern Plan for Coral Bay. 7 Visioning Sessions were completed and a circulation draft of the Vision statement will be issued shortly for review. A subcommittee met with the developer of Reliance Housing about the proposed project in Calabash Boom. We also participated in the public session held in Cruz Bay for the new draft Comprehensive Land Use Plan. During the year there were discussions regarding the Moravian Church Land as it concerns the greater population of Coral Bay. Land Use Committee members also participated in the General Management Plan of the National Park by providing questions and ideas. We participated in the identification of “Big Trees” and held a session on Conservation Easements and their application to Coral Bay.

Infrastructure Committee – Studied Parks and Recreation in Coral Bay. The board also had a meeting with the Police Chief from Cruz Bay and a Neighborhood watch program is being developed in several areas of Coral Bay. The Governor’s office has recently announced that the funds have been released for the police substation in Coral Bay.

Ocean Use and Protection – Alvis Christian, Chairman. The Committee met and discussed water use issues in Coral Bay. They plan to do a Bird and Wildlife Presentation in the future. Volunteer Biologist Kim Meyers was here for 6 weeks doing research on the habitat in the inner harbor of Coral Bay. The data will be organized and presented in a future program. The Committee has been encouraging Dr Monica Grasso, wetlands expert in the USVI, to come to Coral Bay and study our mangroves.

History and Preservation - Jean Cottrell, Chairman. The Committee has identified resources to be cataloged and is collecting old photographs. A fund raiser is being held using a sketch of Coral Bay from 1843 to imprint on shirts and bags, and note cards are also being printed. More land owners of significant historical sites need to be encouraged to join the CBCC.

Suggestions for the Future – Members made several suggestions for future activities of CBCC which included (1) urging Reliance Housing to include a recreation area for youth in their planning for Calabash Boom; (2) Study the issues, and hold meetings for the public in preparation for the Constitutional Convention to be held in 2006; (3) Encourage CBCC members to support the after school program at the John’s Folly Learning Institute; (4) Work with officials to lower the speed and increase safety of large trucks traveling on Centerline Road.

Harry A. Gauriloff will speak about designing roads and developments to
reduce site disturbance and runoff at the next Coral Bay Community Council Monthly Member Forum on Monday, October 11th at 5:30 pm at the Johns Folly Learning Center.

He will use as an example the upcoming access road development to Parcel 9 Carolina (From Chateau Bordeaux down to the area of the Roller's Garden Shop.) He is working for the District Court and the estate of Florence Marsh to design a road through this steep area appropriately, and ways to mitigate environmental damage. The 160 acre property is already divided into 15 parcels of 5 to 23 acres, on which more subdivision roads will be built. Evaluating new design standards for ecologically sensitive roads is an important issue for Coral Bay's future. Please join us for this valuable presentation and discussion.

September 13th - our monthly CBCC meeting:
Neighborhood watch training by Police. (The Board is meeting with Police officials Aug. 23rd to discuss recent crime problem in Coral Bay, and solutions.) Volunteer to help with this anti-crime effort.

Click here for Neighborhood Watch instructions.

September 8th, 6:00 pm Legislature Bldg, Cruz Bay. The new draft
Comprehensive land use planning Law will be presented by Dean Plaskett, DPNR, and the Senate Committee responsible. More info to follow via email. Future meetings will allow for questions. This is presentation to start community discussion.

September 2nd, 6:30 pm

Primary Candidates Forum - As part of CBCC's voter education initiative, the At-Large Senator Candidates and Delegate candidates who will be in the Sept. 11th Primary elections have been invited to our Candidates forum at the John's Folly Learning Institute. It will start at 6:30 pm and run for approximately 2 hours, with informal social time at the end. Everyone is encouraged to attend, ask questions, and learn the candidates' views on issues that concern Coral Bay. Get your neighbors to go too!

AUGUST 9TH: The Coral Bay Community Council will hold our Monthly Member Forum on Monday, August 9th, 5:30 to 6:30pm at the John's Folly Learning Institute in Coral Bay. This month's topic will be "Conservation Easements, Land Trusts, and other strategies to preserve natural land and cultural and recreational resources for future generations."

Dr. Gary Ray, one of the founders of the St. John Community Land Trust will speak on this topic.

November 17, 2003 - Founding Meeting
December 8, 2003 -- Area of Particular Concern Plan
January 12, 2004 - Ira Wade, Public Works, Our Road Repairs
February 9, 2004 -- Dr. Barry Devine - Coral Bay Sedimentation
March 8, 2004 - Crystal Fortwangler, Continuity and Change over the Past Century
April 19, 2004 - Potluck Supper
May 10, 2004 - Eleanor Gibney - Planting for Erosion Control
June 14, 2004 - Comprehensive Land Use Plan
July 12, 2004 - Reliance Project and other developments
August 9, 2004 - Conservation Easements, Land Trusts

Our new website: coralbaycommunitycouncil.org
Your ideas??? Do you have photos for the site?

Volunteers needed: CBCC Membership/info Table at the St. John Festival
Food Fair - June 20th
Cultural Day - July 3rd

Want to volunteer? Join a committee? Become a member?
Stop by our office at the Town & Country Building - above K2 Video.
Call us at 340-776-2099, email at coralbaycommunitycouncil@hotmail.com

* Comprehensive Land Use Plan – Next Meeting, June 14th, Marjorie Emmanuel, Director of Planning, DPNR will speak on the need for plan

Forum Meeting Dec. 8, 2003

Coral Bay APC Management Plan - practical uses of the plan

CBCC as main non-governmental coordinating agency (9,4)
-coordination of all government agencies and community with respect to objectives

Proposed CBCC committees:
* Land use planning Committee- Quality of Life, zoning, visioning, regulations, priority on
coastal land use (1)
* Watershed Committee - land based environment, focus on drainage, roads and erosion (2,3,5)
* Ocean use and protection committee - water-based environment, boating, recreation, nature (6,8)
* Infrastructure/Services committee - utilities, dumpsters, schools, crimewatch, eldercare, use of public land(all)
* History and preservation committee- Fortsberg, rum factory, other sites, oral histories and pictures (7)

Themes (achieve CBCC credibility)
-accurate info/facts
-public information and education
-CB values
-Make Choices
-Make it Happen!
-small things/ big things

other interests: fundraising, events, refreshments
General:
Announcements:

Develop questions for the governor's town hall mtg, Dec 17, 6:30 pm, at the Westin Ballroom.

The Council's purpose is to provide an effective means for residents of Coral Bay to participate in planning the future of Coral Bay development, by providing education and information on planning processes, and a forum for government, citizens, and developers to discuss plans. In addition, the organization, with its nonprofit status, will be able to implement community improvement and research projects through grants and donations. The agenda will initially focus on: land and water use planning;

infrastructure, development and environmental issues;seeking community consensus on the future of Coral Bay;then evolve into a broader agenda of community services and concerns.

Operating Method: Volunteer-based
Managed by Board of Directors
Annual Member Meeting to elect directors (staggered 3 yr. terms)
Monthly Forum Meetings
Committees
Projects funded by grants and donations
Office - for visibility, information library

How to get your ideas on agenda:
come to office
speak to a board member
write up your idea

Mailing Address: 9901 Emmaus, St. John, VI 00830 Phone: soon come, for now 513-4298

Office: 8-1 Estate Emmaus, Coral Bay, Town & Country Bldg., Above K-2 Video, Across from Skinny's