The National Park Service will seek competitive bids to operate the Caneel Bay Resort/NPS

A competitive bid process will be used to find an operator for the beleaguered Caneel Bay Resort at Virgin Islands National Park, the National Park Service announced Tuesday.

The announcement came at the end of a public comment period on how the Park Service should approach the removal of hazardous environmental wastes at the resort, which has largely been in tatters since back-to-back hurricanes pounded it in September 2017.

The announcement, with few details, could mark the end of CBI Acquisitions' operation of the resort. The company has operated Caneel Bay since 2004 under a Retained Use Estate document dictated by the late Laurance S. Rockefeller, whose intention back in 1983 was to see the resort turned over to the Park Service at the end of September 2023. 

In 2010 Congress passed a law directing the Interior Department to weigh whether it was better to keep the facilities under the RUE or create a concessions agreement for the resort. Three years later, in July 2013, the Park Service, after conducting an environmental assessment, recommended that the operating agreement be redefined as a long-term lease more in line with typical concessions agreements. Part of that assessment pointed to valuable archaeological and natural resource aspects of Caneel Bay's location.

Park Service officials long tried to reach agreement on a long-term lease with Gary Engle, CBI's principal, but Engle at the same time also tried -- unsuccessfully -- to have Interior officials extend the RUE.

Negotiations with Engle were suspended early this year while the Park Service focused on cleanup and further testing on the resort's 150 acres.

Testing has detected a variety of wastes, some hazardous to humans, on nearly eight acres of the grounds of the once-tony resort. That testing found varying levels of arsenic, elevated levels of certain pesticides, and a "mixture of benign organic materials, plastics, metals, and CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) hazardous substances, including the pesticide DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls."

Under the preferred alternative cited by a report detailing the findings, thousands of cubic yards of soils would be removed, down to bedrock in some instances. Any hazardous wastes would have to be taken to the continental United States for disposal at an accredited hazardous waste disposal site. Thousands of yards of clean soil also would have to be brought to the site to restore natural conditions, which would be aided through the planting of native vegetation, the report said.

The cost of cleanup remains to be determined, and that likely will affect the bidding process for a resort operator.

"We can't even get a sense of what the lease would be worth until we know we have a cleaned-up site," Virgin Islands Superintendent Nigel Fields told the Traveler earlier this month. "There's not much for us to discuss without us being able to have evaluation of the property."

Since April, the NPS has encouraged community participation by hosting virtual public meetings on environmental concerns at Caneel Bay and prospects for redevelopment. The shift towards a competitive solicitation and selection of a leasee allows the Park Service to incorporate public feedback into the process, a release said.

“Caneel Bay is vital to the heritage, progress and enjoyment of St. John and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” Fields said in the release. “This decision reflects our commitment to ensuring the future of Caneel Bay is planned with consideration for the voices of our visitors and the communities whose histories we are charged with preserving here. A competitive lease process will help foster a broad and equitable resolution that honors the intent of the park’s establishment while addressing 21st century needs.”

This fall the park intends to draft another environmental assessment "aimed at defining the stewardship, community, operational and other critical guidelines that will factor into the site’s lease development. Public input into the EA will help frame the vision for Caneel Bay." 

According to the park release, "the leasing program provides a pathway for parks to enter into public-private partnerships to revitalize park properties and make them available for public use. The Caneel Bay competitive lease process will include requests for qualifications and proposals, which are expected to begin rolling out by next summer. At this time, construction is projected to start in late 2024."