Public Notice - DR-4335/4340-VI Environmental Assessment

COMMENT PERIOD ENDS MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2023 PUBLIC NOTICE Notice of Availability of the Environmental Assessment for the U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Juan F. Luis North Parking Lot and Ancillary Structures, St. Croix, USVI FEMA-DR-4335/4340-VI 

Notification is hereby given to the public of the intent of the Department of Homeland Security-Federal Emergency Management Agency (DHS-FEMA) to provide Federal financial assistance to the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA), as Recipient, and the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital (JFL), as Subrecipient, to complete additional construction activities to maintain access to quality, comprehensive health care and medical services at JFL for the communities across St. Croix. On September 6, 2017, and September 19, 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused extensive damage to the US Virgin Islands (USVI). Hurricane Irma and Maria’s incident period was declared a major disaster on September 7, 2017 (FEMA 4335-DR-VI) and September 20, 2017 (FEMA 4340--DR-VI), respectively. These declarations allow federal disaster assistance to be available to affected communities and certain nonprofit organizations in accordance with the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1974 (Stafford Act; 42 U.S.C. 5172), as amended. 

The subrecipient is considering construction activities to create parking lots, backup utilities and ancillary structures including a building to house bio-medical waste and store the maintenance and medical records. The need for these potential actions or types of activities is to support physical access to emergency health care operations, and to maintain emergency health services and their associated utilities lines, for the island's residents and visitors. The objective of the hospital improvements focuses on creating infrastructure that is safe, reliable, accessible, and more resilient to improve community health and indirectly reduce poverty, thereby facilitating better economic conditions and equity on St. Croix. 

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared to assess the potential impacts of the proposed actions on the physical, biological, cultural, and human environments. DHS-FEMA’s requirement of addressing floodplain management and wetlands protection in accordance with 44 CFR Part 9 is incorporatedwithin the EA. The EA is available for public comment, and comments can be sent via email to FEMA-4340-Comment@fema.dhs.gov or via mail to: FEMA 4335-4340 JFO, Attn: Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation, 4500 Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Unite 37 and 38, Christiansted, VI 00820. The EA will be available for download from Public Notice 06-30-2023 | Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital (jflusvi.org);and Environmental Assessment Gov. Juan F. Luis North Parking Lot and Ancillary Structures - US Virgin Islands Office of Disaster Recovery : US Virgin Islands Office of Disaster Recovery (usviodr.com) The EA is also available on FEMA’s website at: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_vi-jfl-north-dea_06162023.pdf. 

A hard copy of the EA will be available at the following locations:
 

• Virgin Islands Library for the Blind and Physically Handicap
  3012 Golden Rock, Christiansted, VI 00820
• UVI Albert A. Sheen Campus Library – Melvin H. Evans Center, Level 700
  orr1 Kingshill, VI 00850

The comment period will end 30 days after the date of publication on both the FEMA and JFL websites listed above. Written comments on the EA can be mailed or e-mailed to the contact below. If no substantive comments are received, the EA will become final, and FEMA will sign a Finding of No Significant Impact. Substantive comments will be addressed as appropriate in any final documents. Contact: FEMA 4335-4340 JFO, Attn: Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation, 4500 Sunny Isle Shopping Center, Unit 37 and 38, Christiansted, VI 00820; or via email at FEMA-4340-Comment@fema.dhs.gov.