The road down past the Denis Bay monstrosity

Coconuts · Post by **Coconuts** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 3:16 pm

I've been following the news about the monster house being built up above Denis Bay, and wondered if anyone has or could try driving down the road, and reporting on its condition. A Tradewinds report indicated that DPW had improved the road and reopened it without any public mention, and Raf Muilenberg is quoted as saying “They haven’t just opened the road and made it smooth, they’ve widened it enormously. They’ve also graded the road and lowered it and changed the direction of water flow”. Now, I'm as aghast anyone at the nerve of the owners, and their disrespect for NPS land, but I was wondering if some of what they have done might prove useful. On satellite images, it doesn't look as though their house is simply on a driveway off the old road, but rather that the old road goes right through their property. They may have intended to block things so as to prevent thru access and make the old road into a private driveway, but now that the spotlight is on them that seems considerably less likely.

Coming out on Centerline where it does, very close to the Gifft Hill Road, it would make for a nice shortcut to the North Shore beaches. I once used the John Head Road to get from the door of Coconuts to the parking lot at Trunk Bay in twelve minutes, but that was strictly driving solo, and a bit rougher on the car than need be. I have to admit that a better graded and shorter road, even closer to Gifft Hill, and starting out 140 feet lower in elevation, could come in handy. Does anyone on island care to give it a try and report back?

All the best,

Kevin

needmesomesun · Post by **needmesomesun** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 3:47 pm

Is that the only developable parcel on that road? Seems like a whole bunch of work for one house. I had never looked at it before, but always assumed most of what is on that road is national park. I wonder how many parcels of private land (within the park) exist on that road?

News of St. John · Post by **News of St. John** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 4:27 pm

I'll have a new story on this next week. Stay tuned...

-Jenn

Agent99 · Post by **Agent99** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:03 pm

News of St. John wrote:I'll have a new story on this next week. Stay tuned...

-Jenn

You go girl! Good luck and watch your back.

EagleRayLover · Post by **EagleRayLover** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:54 pm

Coconuts- where is the road accessible from Gift Hill? Iwilltryit igoonanewadveture at least once a week!

Coconuts · Post by **Coconuts** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 6:39 pm

ERL: If you were to turn right from the Gifft Hill Road onto Centerline, heading toward Coral Bay (or were simply heading east on Centerline from Cruz Bay, and had just passed Tony's BBQ truck), the first thing on the left along Centerline would be the Community Health Clinic, followed by Paradise Lumber. Right after Paradise Lumber, on the same side (left) is Cheyenne's Heavy Equipment. The old road starts immediately after Cheyenne's, although two roads join there in a fork; the one on the left is the road under discussion, while the right hand one leads to a residence.

While it's unlikely, I can't rule out the possibility that the damage and gabion basket failure that these bozos have inflicted may prevent thru access down to the North Shore Road, in which case you would need to turn around and head back up to Centerline. If you haven't had the pleasure of a drive down the John Head Road, you might want to do that to calibrate yourself on what a fairly rugged NPS road is like. The John Head Road (laughably, aka "Route 207") is a mile or so farther east along Centerline from the Gifft Hill Road, and has a big National Park sign at its entrance.

It will be interesting to hear how your new adventure turns out!

All the best,

Kevin

EagleRayLover · Post by **EagleRayLover** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 4:54 pm

Will go on the adventure by Tuesday!! Wish me luck. ( one of the last roads I took was a driveway(. Oops) of a certain bigwig who has a place here on island!!

mfaughey · Post by **mfaughey** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 5:38 pm

Here is a short video of John Head Road, leaving Cinnamon Tarn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQwDZCfVPgU

hugo · Post by **hugo** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:36 pm

The road hasn't been passable by car since the late 1980s. The work Ingrao has been doing was ostensibly to fix and open up the road, but then exploded into an obvious excuse to increase the view from his new house. The new work collapsed totally in moderately heavy rain in May. It is likely that he intends to open the road, since it gives quick access to the North Shore.

Coconuts · Post by **Coconuts** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:19 pm

Hugo : If the gabion basket failure has closed off the road, or it is in any way unsafe, Leslie would probably want to reconsider her "adventure". I was basing my comments on the Tradewinds article, which stated that "After years of no use, the road was reopened by Department of Public Works with little fanfare and no public announcement several months ago", along with the grading and widening comments I quoted from Raf. If you're pretty sure that the road isn't currently passable, please comment; we wouldn't want Leslie to get stuck. Another option would be to contact the office of Darryl Smalls, the Commissioner of DPW, at 776-4844, and ask what the current condition of the road is. The NPS might also know where things stand.

All the best,

Kevin

hugo · Post by **hugo** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 7:45 am

Public works did not open the road, they allowed, (or maybe didn't) Ingrao to try to open the road and it failed miserably. Ingrao has had a sign at both ends saying it's closed to cars and pedestrians, which is illegal since it's a public right-of-way, if only on foot. Eagle Ray can drive down and turn around easily in the vastly widened area behind Ingrao's house. it's worth seeing close up, if you like to be shocked.

Wolfhound · Post by **Wolfhound** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:11 am

The monster house and Sago Palms were the only two properties at the end of that road. It was a big challenge to navigate even by St John standards. We went down there last year to see what was going on. It had not been improved but I am sure he would have wanted to widen it to get all that massive equipment through. I miss Sago Palms. My favorite rental.........

mizarumonkey · Post by **mizarumonkey** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:47 pm

There are three properties on the Jumbie Bay side of the destroyed ridge - from the bottom, ex-Sago Palms, ex-SolenHus, and an empty lot. The egomaniacs will (soon) own all three of those properties.

The road also accesses two other private (unbuilt) properties on the Hawksnest side of the obliterated ridge, which got excavated into and trees knocked over, as well as the back entrance to Hawksview.

As of right now, the access from Centerline is fine - partially paved, partially dirt, until you get to the monstrosity. At the monstrosity, they apparently decided to cut the roadbed down 8 feet or so (perhaps they disliked stairs and a natural, tree-filled buffer from the road), as well as cutting 50 to 100 feet into other peoples' properties (both private and VINP) to make the huge excavated rock cliff you see in the photos. They also built their garages and front entrance well over the property line, and into the road parcel.

It's only once you get below the ex-Sago Palms house that it gets really messy. While the switchback down there has not been passable even with 4WD for a decade, now it's far worse. Their failed gabion wall (those metal wire baskets filled with rocks) brought down tons of dirt and trees, and the slope below the monstrosity is barely even walkable. They've 'fixed' the fallen gabion wall with a... not sure, maybe 30+ foot, concrete wall, but even that has huge radial cracks in it now. (So, more good news-bad news... the monstrosity house may very well fall down some day in a storm or earthquake (yay!), but it will fall into the Park, taking out even more of the nature that still exists below the house (boo!).)

As it is a public road, it belongs to all of us, and despite some hand-scrawled sign that says "road closed", I suggest making it a hike for anyone who wants to see it. Before you get to the monstrosity, it's a nice, calm, cool, nature-covered walk with some good views. Once the brownfield development opens up in front of you, it's both saddening (that people can be so self-centered and idiotic), and humorous (as the whole house is such a comedy of errors, from fallen walls to the gaudy, horrible design that must have cost them sooo much just to get something soooo ugly!). As I agree they will likely want to repair the section of road below their house (for quick access to North Shore), I also suggest it becomes the natural access from all of the center of the island to the beaches. They'll probably try to 'take' it back with gates and the like, but they'll soon figure out that the rental Jeeps all have big scraped-up bumpers for a reason - the operators on aluminum gates are surprisingly easy to push open!

Coconuts · Post by **Coconuts** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:56 pm

mizarumonkey : Very useful and detailed info; thanks! Leslie, let us know that you have read this before setting out.

All the best,

Kevin

Pia · Post by **Pia** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:06 pm

As I posted in the other thread ....

Exit 7 Franklin st

I urge everyone to call the National Park headquarters in DC and report this - not sure what (if anything) the National Park on STJ is doing about this so I think it needs to go straight to the top (so to speak) and for us not to sit around and hope that the STJ division is doing something - I mean it can't hurt to bring it to their attention - maybe they already know but maybe they don't.

Jonathan Jarvis
Jon_Jarvis@nps.gov
(202) 208-3818

usvi-on-line