Legislature OKs controversial land swap with National Park Service

Senators, testifiers and audience members review a map outlining Whistling Cay and a portion of land in Estate Catherineberg, the two areas being considered for a controversial land swap with the National Park Service, during a Committee of the Whole meeting in July on St. John. The 35th Legislature approved the land swap between the Virgin Islands and the federal government during its regular session on Friday.

The 35th Legislature approved a controversial land swap between the Virgin Islands and the federal government during its regular session on Friday.

Nine senators voted in favor of the measure, Bill No. 35-0112, approving the conveyance of Tract No. 02-101 Whistling Island — also known as Whistling Cay — north of St. John to the National Park Service in exchange for a portion of Tract No. 01-137A in Estate Catherineberg, also known as Hammer’s Farm. The Act further directs the V.I. government to deposit proceeds from the exchange into the St. John Capital Improvements Fund.

The bill passed with an amendment offered by At-Large Sen. Angel Bolques Jr. and Senate President Novelle E. Francis Jr. to add a section specifying that the acquired land must be used for the building of a pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school — which can also function as a temporary hurricane shelter — and a section adding that the exchange cannot restrict Virgin Islanders’ water rights in the area around Whistling Cay.

Senators Samuel Carrión, Dwayne DeGraff, Alma Francis Heyliger, Franklin Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Kenneth Gittens voted against the measure, and Sen. Donna Frett-Gregory, who mentioned having a plane to catch earlier in the day, was absent.