Developer sues CZM over tower denial paperwork in St. Croix case

A telecommunications company has gone to court over what it says is a procedural failure by the Virgin Islands Coastal Zone Management Commission that has blocked its ability to challenge a rejected tower project on St. Croix.

Blue Sky Towers III filed suit Tuesday in District Court, arguing that CZM's refusal to produce written documentation of its May 2026 denial has left the developer unable to appeal and the East End project permanently stalled.

The company applied in September 2024 to build a 150-foot communications tower on privately owned land in Estate Long Point and Cotton Garden. The facility was designed to expand wireless service to commercial users and to support FirstNet, the emergency communications network used by first responders across the territory.

Local residents objected to the proposal, citing concerns about its placement, environmental consequences and effects on nearby land. The St. Croix CZM Committee voted unanimously to reject the application in May, overruling its own technical staff, who had recommended approval.

When Blue Sky Towers' lawyers requested a formal written decision documenting the committee's action, Assistant CZM Director Gregory Richards replied that the staff could not help prepare one because the committee had rejected the staff's supporting report.

Without such a document, Blue Sky Towers contends it cannot pursue an appeal. The company attempted to challenge the denial before the Virgin Islands Board of Land Use Appeals in June, but that board said it could not act without a written decision from CZM. Blue Sky Towers now says the deadline for filing an appeal has passed, leaving it shut out of the administrative review process.

The company claims CZM violated Title 12, Section 910(d)(4) of the Virgin Islands Code, which requires written decisions on coastal zone permits to be given to applicants. It also alleges breaches of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, which mandates that agencies denying wireless facility applications provide written decisions supported by evidence in the record. That same federal statute bars regulations that effectively block the delivery of personal wireless services.

Blue Sky Towers is asking the court to find that CZM broke both territorial and federal law, to require the commission to issue the required written decision without delay, and to order the Board of Land Use Appeals to review its pending appeal once CZM complies.