Senate to Vote Friday on Proposed Land Swap for St. John K-12 School

After multiple town hall meetings, a public comment period, and much spirited debate, senators are scheduled to vote Friday on whether to ratify a land swap between the V.I. government and the National Park Service to provide a site for a new K-12 public school on St. John.

The Senate will take up the matter when it convenes as the Committee of the Whole and then in legislative session on Friday starting at 10 a.m. The meetings are livestreamed on the Legislature website and its Facebook page. Lawmakers were originally scheduled to vote on the land swap on July 20 but after two hours of debate — and eight hours the week before — postponed the decision for 45 working days so they could do more research.

Under the legislation, Bill 35-0112, the V.I. government would exchange Whistling Cay — a 17.97-acre island off Mary Point on the north shore of St. John that is owned by the territory — for an 11.3-acre site in Estate Catherineberg owned by the National Park. The cay, which lies within the boundaries of the Virgin Islands National Park, is a wildlife sanctuary and contains historic ruins of an old guardhouse.

The Catherineberg property was donated to the VINP in 1968 by the Bishop family, more than 20 years after the park was established. Unlike most of the land within the park, the deed for the Bishop property states that the land can be used for a public purpose if approved by the Secretary of the Interior.