[For the full text of the September 13, 2021, Army Corps letter, please click here.]
Army Corps Identifies Extensive Problems with Summers End Group Project
October 7, 2021 – The news regarding the Summers End Group mega yacht marina project in Coral Bay has been fairly quiet over the past few months. But that doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening. The Army Corps has been reviewing the voluminous six-year long file for the Summers End Group (SEG) permit application and has recently transmitted a letter to Chaliese Summers documenting the status of the permit review.
The errors, deficiencies, non-responses, and outright refusals by SEG to provide the information required by the Corps and other federal agencies is all documented in this corrrespondence dated September 13, 2021. The objections of multiple federal agencies, first expressed in 2015 and still valid and unanswered today, are cited by the Corps. Virtually all of the major issues enumerated by the Corps in 2015 remain unresolved today, six years later, with the addition of significant new problems recently discovered.
This is a long read – 20 pages – but if you are really curious to know how the United States Army Corps of Engineers views the Summers End Group mega marina project in Coral Bay, it is worth reading.
The cover letter concludes with a clear statement to Chaliese Summers: “Please provide the requested information for the Corps to continue processing the application. Please notify the Corps if you will need additional time to provide the information. If the Corps does not receive a response, we will assume you have no further interest in obtaining a Department of the Army permit and the Corps will either withdraw your permit application or proceed with a permit decision which may not be favorable. Such action will constitute final action by the Department of the Army.”
When Chaliese Summers and her attorneys testified before the Virgin Islands 33rd Legislature a little over one year ago and said that approval by the Army Corps was “imminent” and all they needed was for the Legislature to ratify their CZM permit, they misrepresented the facts. The Army Corps was nowhere near approval of a permit then, and even farther away today.
It may take action on the part of the Governor and the Legislature of the Virgin Islands to rectify the mistakes made by the 33rd Legislature in ratifying the Summers End permit. I feel confident that we will get to the right result for the people of the Virgin Islands, however long it may take.
Today I wrote to Governor Albert Bryan Jr, Lieutenant Governor Tregenza A. Roach, Senate President Donna Frett-Gregory, and all of the other Senators of the 33rd and 34th Legislature to share this information and remind them of the misrepresentations made by Summers End Group to pressure the 33rd Legislature into approving a faulty CZM permit. The letter concludes:
“Coral Bay now finds itself in the unenviable position of having to look at hurricane ravaged derelict buildings on property controlled by the Summers End Group. Coral Bay is saddled with a 20-year agreement over more than half the navigable waters of Coral Harbor to an entity which is unlikely to ever be able to use those waters. While actual development is stymied, while property owners cannot use their own lands, Summers End is enjoying the fruits of an agreement signed by the Governor and ratified by the 33rd Legislature, obtained on false pretenses.”
Perhaps after considering the facts, the Governor and the 34th Legislature will take the necessary steps to correct this misguided act of the 33rd.