Questions Aplenty at Permit Meeting for Coral Bay FirstNet Construction

Concerned citizens convened for a virtual meeting of the St. John Coastal Zone Management Board on Tuesday night. Two requests for building permits were on the agenda, including one to construct an emergency communications tower serving Coral Bay.

About 48 people logged onto the Microsoft Teams session, which lasted more than two hours. Most of the discussion focused on Liberty Mobile USVI, Inc.’s proposed construction of a FirstNet tower. Residents attending the video conference questioned the location, safety, and reliability of the device chosen to serve the eastern part of St. John.

FirstNet is a national broadband network serving emergency responders across the U.S. Liberty Communications Government Affairs Counsel Wanda Perez Alvarez said the site at Parcel 6-4-1, No. 1 Coral Bay Quarter was the government’s choice for construction.

“Given that we are limited to a very specific area, this is the best area … we need to meet the FirstNet Commitment,” Alvarez said.