The Department of Planning and Natural Resources will investigate improvements made without permits to a beach building at Caneel Bay Resort’s Honeymoon Beach, Planning attorney Winston Brathwaite said at a meeting Wednesday of the St. John Coastal Zone Management Committee held at the Legislature building.

“Bathrooms were added. That is not a simple fix-up,” CZM Committee member Brion Morrisette said.

The building is leased as a concession to V.I. Ecotours.

The matter came to light as the three CZM Committee members discussed Caneel’s request for a modification to its major CZM permit so it can expand its Kids Club building by 941 square feet. The CZM members at the meeting, Morrisette, Edmond Roberts and Andrew Penn, unanimously agreed to the modification.

When pressed by Morrisette, Caneel’s managing director Nikolay Hotze said Caneel installed plumbing. He said there was a lift station at the site that transported the sewage from the bathrooms.

Hotze had insisted throughout questioning that Caneel had made only necessary repairs like fixing the roof and shoring up the walls. He also said that Caneel also added a new “wooden shack” that could be moved.

However, under questioning, he said that the new building hadn’t been moved.

Hotze initially insisted that the older building, which he called a hut, had been there for 40 years or at least since before his arrival nine years ago, but Morrisette said he saw construction at the site as recently as two months ago.

Also at issue is Caneel’s $20 charge for non-guests to park. Morrisette said that violated the terms of Caneel’s CZM permit.

“It’s draconian. It has a chilling effect,” Morrisette said.

If people don’t want to pay the fee to use the resort’s beaches, they must find a place to park along the North Shore Road and walk in.

Caneel waives the parking fee if the public spends money at the resort.

Public access was also an issue when other item on the agenda came up. The Joseph John Markus Trust asked for a renewal of its CZM permit and associated submerged-land permit for a 100-foot dock on Lovango Cay, located to the north of St. John. The dock is privately owned and used by the occupants of the adjacent house.

The Joseph John Markus Trust request was a public hearing, though no members of the public showed up. The CZM Committee will render its decision on the dock permit renewal within 30 days.

It is one of three docks on Lovango. The second one is used by the barge that brings supplies to the island. However, a photo displayed by consultant Amy Dempsey of Bioimpact clearly showed small vessels tied up along the sides of the dock.

“The dock is not approved for that use,” Morrisette said.

Lovango also has a third dock used by property owners on the western end of the island.

Dempsey said that people who recently bought property on Lovango indicated to her that they wanted to build a dock. However, Dempsey said it wouldn’t get approvals because the location was filled with endangered corals.

After hearing about the three docks and the hopes of building another one, CZM Committee chairman Andrew Penn said the local government should build a dock to provide access to the entire island for all landowners.

“Nothing too large,” he said.

He said that as it stands now, people anchor to access the beach. This can cause damage to the corals, he said.