April 9, 2001 — Residents of Estate Yellow Cedar have shifted their continuing battle with the V.I. Port Authority over the agency’s runway expansion project from local to federal court.
Attorney Lee Rohn filed a lawsuit against the Port Authority in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, claiming, among other things, pain and suffering caused by health problems directly related to construction. Early last year, residents of Yellow Cedar began complaining that dust from the project was causing respiratory and other health problems. Residents also claim that the Port Authority violated an agreement that was to have work completed last October.
Rohn also maintains that while the Port Authority has purchased many homes in Yellow Cedar to accommodate the runway expansion, it should provide "fair and just compensation" to every property and land owner in the neighborhood.
"It is our position that all persons in the Yellow Cedar neighborhood should be bought out" because the neighborhood is essentially gone, she said.
The runway extension project was halted for three months early last year because of the dust problem. After negotiations with Yellow Cedar residents over clean-up, Port Authority contractors resumed work late last year. As part of the project, the Port Authority purchased 31 parcels of land adjacent to the airport, 25 of them with dwellings that housed 65 families.
Rohn, meanwhile, said she is also suing the Port Authority for the pain and suffering it caused the residents.
"I have a lot of children and owners who have suffered physical harm," she said.
The $18 million project, which will extend the runway to 10,000 feet from the present 7,600, is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2002.
Speaking on a radio talk show last week, Gordon Finch, executive director of the Port Authority, said his agency had settled with 75 percent of the Yellow Cedar homeowners.