Which permit and contractor records exist for construction on Little St. James and Great St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands?
Executive summary
Official and journalistic records show a mixed, incomplete paper trail: Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) permitting processes and forms exist and require contractor names [1] [2] [3], reporters and DPNR officials say Epstein’s representatives submitted multiple permit applications for Great St. James and Little St. James but only a small number of permits were formally approved [4] [5], and contemporaneous reporting documents applications for ambitious projects on Great St. James even as regulators issued cease-and-desist orders [5] [4]. Public-facing online permit inventories for these islands are not presented in the sources provided, and the precise roster of contractors approved on specific permits is not fully documented in the materials available here [1] [2].
1. What the Virgin Islands’ permitting framework requires and where records should live
The Virgin Islands maintains a permitting system through the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, which publishes guidance on permits and applications [1], and the territory’s building-permit application form explicitly collects contractor names, license numbers and estimated construction costs [2], consistent with statutory requirements that permit applications include names and addresses of engineers, architects and contractors who will supervise work [3]. Local zoning and airport-safety rules also tie building permits to broader territorial code requirements, meaning applications for island construction must conform to multiple legal regimes [6].
2. What reporters and DPNR officials say exists for Great St. James
Reporting in the Virgin Islands Daily News and related local outlets documents permit applications for a substantial program of work on Great St. James — plans that on file included a barge dock, homes, cottages, an amphitheater, a marine electrical cable, solar arrays, and even an “underwater office and pool,” and which addressed mitigation for endangered corals and the Virgin Islands tree boa [5]. DPNR Assistant Commissioner Keith Richards told reporters Epstein’s representatives had applied for at least four minor permits but that only one minor permit — for a flagpole and cistern repairs — had been approved, while earlier DPNR action included a 2016 cease-and-desist for unpermitted coastal-zone development [4].
3. What records and reporting say about Little St. James construction
Public summaries and secondary articles describe construction on Little St. James during roughly 2009–2013 and note that architects submitted plans in 2010 describing a music pavilion, but that the final prominent blue-and-white domed structure diverged substantially from those approved plans, suggesting deviations between submitted permits and on-the-ground construction [7]. Reporting and regulatory notes also reference at least one temporary barge-landing permit sought by a local survey company to enable construction work between the two islands [4].
4. Evidence about contractors and the limits of the public record
The jurisdiction’s application form and statutes require listing contractors and subcontractors on permit filings [2] [3], and audit reports of the DPNR’s building-permit operations have previously flagged weak procedures for inspection and enforcement and recommended better recordkeeping of approved permits and construction-site inspections [8]. However, the sources provided do not supply a consolidated, public-facing list of the contractor names on the specific permits for Little St. James or Great St. James, nor do they include scanned permit files, contractor license lookups tied to those projects, or a complete chronology of approvals versus enforcement actions [1] [2] [8].
5. How to interpret the patchwork trail and outstanding gaps
Taken together, these sources establish that permit applications and at least limited approvals exist in the DPNR system, that ambitious project plans for Great St. James were formally filed and referenced mitigation requirements [5], and that the permitting law requires contractor identification [3] [2]. They also show active enforcement episodes — a 2016 cease-and-desist and later inspections — indicating the administrative record is contested [4]. What remains unsupported by the material provided here is a publicly cited, item-by-item permit register with the names and licenses of every contractor who worked on either island; such detail would require direct searches of DPNR permit files or public-records requests to the Virgin Islands Division of Building Permits [1] [9].