VI_DAILYNEWS/PAGES [A07] | 11/05/13
23:54 | SUPERIMPVI
VIRGIN ISLANDS
Residents can vote on two proposed
plans for Christiansted through Friday
By JOY BLACKBURN
Daily News Staff
ST. CROIX — Residents can check
out two different proposed town plans
for Christiansted today through Friday
and vote on the one they prefer.
The proposals will be on display at
the Steeple Building, where balloting
also will be conducted.
The voting is part of a process that
included a charrette in March aimed
at getting ideas and input from the
public on a town plan for Christiansted.
A town plan is supposed to provide a
road map for the economic, social and
architectural development of a town,
incorporating the history and culture,
as well as dealing with social issues,
housing and infrastructure.
A charrette is a quick, intense, col-
laborative method of creating a town
plan by bringing in the public to help
do the work.
The Enterprise Zone Commission,
part of theV.I. Economic Development
Authority, brought local architects and
planners together for a contest to
design the town plan. Those who were
interested attended the charrette.
Although six architects had
expressed interest in the contest at one
point, only two submitted proposed
town plans, said Nadine Marchena
Kean, director of the Enterprise Zone
Commission.
“I thought both of them offered
very interesting solutions to some of
the challenges I heard at the char-
rette,” she said.
Those two proposed town plans will
be on display at the Steeple Building,
where people can take a look at them
and enter their votes, Kean said.
“They have put together what they
think would meet the needs — to deal
with the challenges, include the solu-
tions that were suggested at some of
these meetings, and also create others
as well,” she said.
Officials want to hear what resi-
dents think and which plan they’d like
to see implemented, she said.
“What is happening now is that the
community, as promised, gets an oppor-
tunity to view these plans and vote on
these plans,” she said. “It’s really an
important part of the process.”
Others who deal with various
aspects of history and culture, social
issues, housing and economic devel-
opment will also review the plans,
Kean said.
Ultimately, the plans will go before
the Economic DevelopmentAuthority
board, which will make a recommen-
dation to the governor, she said.
A public meeting on the matter also
is planned.
“This is the vote, but once the vote
has happened, we want to make sure
everybody knows and feels comfort-
able with it,” Kean said, noting that
the chosen plan may need to incorpo-
rate something more. “The one plan
may be accepted, but there might be
components of the other plan that are
of value as well.”
The proposed town plans for
Christiansted will be on display and
people can vote from 9 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. today through Friday at the
Steeple Building in Christiansted.
The building, at Company and
Church streets, is part of the National
Park Service’s Christiansted National
Historic Site.
— Contact Joy Blackburn at
7 1 4 - 9 1 4 5
o r
e m a i l
jblackburn@dailynews.vi.
Daily News Staff
ST. CROIX — New trip limits for
the commercial harvest of queen conch
in federal waters off St. Croix went into
effect on Friday, the day the fishing
season opened for queen conch in the
district.
The new commercial trip limit is
200 queen conch per vessel per day,
according to the Southeast Regional
Office of NOAA’s National Marine
Fisheries Service.
The trip limit applies to the whole
U.S. Caribbean exclusive economic
zone, but only affects the management
subzone of St. Croix, which is the only
area in federal waters where fishing for
queen conch currently is allowed. The
federal waters around Puerto Rico, St.
Thomas and St. John remain closed for
all fishing of queen conch.
The conch fishing season in the fed-
eral waters around St. Croix opened
Friday and is scheduled to close May
31, or when the 50,000-pound quota
for combined federal and territorial
waters around St. Croix is reached,
whichever comes first, according to the
National Marine Fisheries Service.
New queen conch harvest limits in effect off St. Croix
Daily News File Photo
Local fishermen remove the meat from conch shells at Altona Lagoon.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
The Virgin Islands Daily News 7