Developers get heated reception in Caribbean

The Caribbean is being sold to American condo buyers as a place to kick back and enjoy a slow-paced luxury lifestyle.

But prominent Southwest Florida developer David Band and his partner, Kelly Frye, have stirred up a fiery controversy in a U.S. Virgin Islands hamlet with their Grande Bay Resort.

The two, forming a partnership called Bay Isles Associates, are being sued by neighboring property owners in Cruz Bay who claim that Grande Bay is a grand nuisance infringing on their property rights.

The outcry over the project in St. John -- population 5,000 -- has sparked the formation of what some are calling the community's first-ever anti-development community organizing group, the St. John's Coalition.

"They are big players, but guess what? Big players don't always play by the rules," said Elizabeth Trey, who with her mother, Anastasia, and Natalie and Alexander Jadan filed suit claiming that Grande Bay violates St. John's height and density restrictions.

"We have to find a way to have smart growth development on this island and avoid these mainland developers who come along with their mega-sized developments."

Neither the Treys nor the Jadans are members of the St. John's Coalition, but their struggle is likely to be one echoed at other places in the azure-watered islands of the Caribbean as developers from Florida and around the world pour billions into the area as the next big thing. With mainland waterfront property rapidly disappearing, the Caribbean is enticing would-be resort builders like never before.

The complaint against Grande Bay revolves around its sheer magnitude. The suit against Band and Frye claims the island's codes place a three-story limit on buildings. Grande Bay has five stories.

Band, perhaps best known in Southwest Florida for the development of the Hollywood 20 movie theater in Sarasota and his part-ownership of the Hyatt Sarasota, says that he and his partner built exactly what they were permitted to.

"I don't understand how this woman can come along and raise these issues just because she doesn't like it, after it's already been built," Band said.

"And she's made quite a stink about it."

Coalition members worry about the sheer number of condominium owners who might be trekking around the property. The Grande Bay project will include "lock-out" units that allow owners the option of renting out part of their residence. That occupancy potential was never considered in the review of the project, the lawsuit says.

But the crux of Trey's issue with Grande Bay is rooted in the very thing the developers are now selling to tranquility-starved Americans and Europeans: the view. Trey owns a small cottage built on a steep hill that once offered a sweeping panorama of St. John.

"We use to have an unobstructed view of Cruz Bay, the outer islands and Cays, and to the west, St. Thomas," Trey said of the 850-square-foot cottage that has been in her family for a half-century.

"Now I see a 35-foot, 3,500-square-foot concrete wall with a bunch of windows -- just 25 feet from my balcony. I've got to walk to the edge of the balcony to see the sky."

'The quality of our lives'

The St. John's Coalition was formed after a hearing of the U.S. Virgin Islands' legislative body -- the Senate -- at which Band and Frye asked to have their land rezoned to expand the footprint of Grande Bay.

The developers were granted the zoning variance, but that approval was later vetoed by Charles Turnbull, who was governor of the Virgin Islands at the time. But neither the coalition nor Trey's lawsuit has prevented Grande Bay's construction, though the increased public scrutiny of new development projects has killed subsequent proposals.

"We primarily address building, environment and land-use issues that immediately affect the quality of our lives," said Alan Smith, a St. John's Coalition member.

The coalition notes that the Virgin Islands has had problems with corruption within its Department of Planning and Natural Resources. Local newspapers, including the Virgin Islands Daily News, have followed those stories closely.

Former DPNR official Hollis Griffin was convicted in September of contract fraud, while another department official, Dean Plaskett, was implicated in the same infamous corruption case, The Elite scandal. Another official, Montclair Guishand, was convicted in 2003 of accepting a $20,000 bribe in a separate case.

A federal audit of the DPNR revealed it failed to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in permit fees, allowed contractors to build without permits and failed to review architectural plans.

Trey's lawsuit claims that she was promised repeatedly by developers that their project would not block her view.

Band denies any such conversations: "I haven't talked to the woman except once when she came up to me on the street, and that's the only dealings I've had with her."

Trey also claims that she requested copies of Grande Bay's plans from permitting officials 13 times during a six-month period, and that permitting official Douglas Hodge repeatedly promised to send them.

A day after the Senate hearing -- nearly a year later -- Trey says Hodge gave her copies of the plans that showed the resort obstructing her view. She said he told her that the permits already had been issued.

Hodge declined to answer any questions about the case, but a spokesman for the DPNR, Jamal Nielsen, said the department makes its plans readily available to the public. Nielsen said he could not speak specifically to Trey's allegations.

The suit against Grande Bay is still in the discovery phase, and Trey's attorney said he is having difficulty getting information out of Band and Frye.

"We just want the basics of what has been done so far," said Lorren Caffee, the quartet's St. John-based attorney. "This has been the most egregious case of stonewalling I've seen in 30 years. It's tactical. They are just trying to drive up our expenses and our cost so they can go ahead and do what they have been doing."

Caffee acknowledges that Band and Frye will likely complete Grande Bay, but he hopes his clients will receive compensation for the loss of their views and rental incomes for their property. He said the lawsuit has galvanized the community and alerted permitting officials to the public's concerns.

"I do believe DPNR has started to wake up," Caffee said. "What had been politically acceptable has become less so recently. This public awareness has somewhat cooled things."

Band disagreed, saying that the U.S. Virgin Islands government did its job and that he has been surprised by the reaction from Trey and the coalition.