Feb. 23, 2009 — After three years of meeting, researching and brainstorming about how to fight a large-scale development proposed for their area, the residents of Estate Mandahl are reaching out to other community organizations for help.
A Coastal Zone Management public hearing on the development, dubbed the Port of Mandahl Project, is currently set for 6 p.m. March 5 at the Lockhart Elementary School.
"We are begging, looking for as many people as possible to speak at the CZM hearing," Mandahl resident Kirk Boeger said Monday night at a meeting of the Red Hook Alliance. "We need the power of the people on this one."
The Friends of Mandahl Bay are also going to start a "mass" distribution of fliers and petitions before the upcoming hearing, Boeger said. Business owners can help out by posting a flier in their shop or helping to circulate the petitions throughout the community, he said. The recent murder of longtime Mandahl resident Jack Diehl — who helped to bring many of the group's issues to the forefront — has renewed the community's energy and efforts in fighting the project, he said.
The proposed development covers about 15 parcels of land, and includes plans for an 87-slip marina, estate "homesites," studio apartments and a full-service town center, according to an environmental-assessment report filed at Planning and Natural Resources by Springline Architects, the agent for St. Thomas-based Mandahl Holdings and MJS Realty out of Dallas, Texas.
Additional plans will be submitted separately to DPNR for review, including development of cluster housing units, the refurbishing of existing condos and rebuilding of the former Inn at Mandahl. The original lease for the land — which allows for the development of a marina, town center and housing community — was turned over to Mandahl Bay Holdings in 2005. Since then the company has been reinforcing roads cut in the mid-1990s for a subdivision on the hillside surrounding the salt pond. (See "Mandahl Throng Gathers To Fight Development.")
Mandahl residents have continuously spoken out against the detrimental effects the proposed development could have on the community's salt pond, its marine ecosystems and mangroves.
"We have never objected to building houses in the subdivision," Mandahl resident Fred Hupprich said during Monday's meeting. "What we're objecting to is the marina. There are already a number of marinas on the island that aren't even full. We don't need another marina."
A government study conducted in the early '90s recommends the area instead be used for a wildlife or scenic park, said Lenny Smollett, a member of Friends of Mandahl Bay. The developer has proposed sealing the entrance of the salt pond for a year to do dredging for the marina, which will also alter the marine environment, Smollett said.
"We have been working on the environmental front to poke holes in the developer's argument, we have been lobbying senators and even pursuing a legal strategy," Boeger said. "But we would like as many groups as possible to get involved, and to support the call of the League of Women Voters for a comprehensive land- and water-use plan that has yet to see the legislative light of day. We would also like to get as many signatures as we can on the petitions, and make a plan to hit as many topics as we can during the hearing. Talk to other people who plan to speak — if we cover every single base there is, I think it will be clear that there are a lot of reasons why this project shouldn't go forward."
Red Hook residents picked up the call to arms, with one saying she would speak at the CZM hearing on the "moral aspect" of the development.
"CZM's purpose is to balance conservation with development, and they haven't done that for years," said former Red Hook Alliance president Andrea King.
A portion of the proposed community would be adjacent to a local environmental camp run by Mandahl resident Anna Francis, King noted.
"To me, these are reasons to stop the project," she said. "That's what I plan to testify on."
Just showing up at next month's hearing would send a message, said St. Thomas resident Jose Belcher.
"Just showing up means everything," he said. "Let CZM see how many people can fit in that room. If we get as many people in there as possible — if that room is packed — they'll get the message. Even if you're not a speaker — you don't have to say anything at all. Just our presence at the meeting, that will speak volumes."
The next meeting of the Red Hook Alliance is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 23 in the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School library.
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