Proposed Beautification Act opposed • Business groups, gov’t. officials say House bill untimely

Government agencies and business groups have opposed the passage of a bill that will require business owners to shoulder the upkeep of areas between their establishments and public roads, saying the proposal would further hurt their resources.

House Bill 12-168, otherwise known as the Right of Way Beautification Act of 2000, mandates businesses which are lessor of public lands to share the responsibility of maintaining public lands, including secondary roads or other roads leading to beaches.

Marianas Visitors Authority is currently maintaining various sites on the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota, according to Managing Director Perry Tenorio. Some of these sites, such as the beaches fronting the hotels, are jointly maintained by the MVA and the hotelier. Other tourist sites within the jurisdiction of the MVA that are not and are adjacent to leased public land are maintained solely by the tourism office.

Amid the economic difficulty facing the CNMI, the additional burden which members of the travel industry may be required to incur would be counter-productive, Mr. Tenorio said in a letter to Rep. Dino Jones, chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, Judiciary and Government Operations.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Lynn Knight said the proposed measure is very untimely with the economic decline and would place an undue burden on the private sector since it would mean providing maintenance of public lands adjacent to businesses that are on both public and private lands.

“While we agree that it is desirable to beautify and keep our beaches, highways and public roads clean — and that the entire community benefits from a clean environment — our tax dollars should be used for the maintenance of roadways and beaches,” said Ms. Knight.

As an alternative, she recommended that the legislature revisit zoning as a more appropriate means of incorporating community beautification planning.

The Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands said imposing to businesses the obligation of maintaining adjacent properties would mean amending unilaterally the lease agreement unilaterally and raise serious legal issues.

David A. Wiseman, legal counsel of HANMI, said maintaining public lands is a responsibility of the government and cannot be mandated to private citizens.

However, if the Legislature believes that such obligations should be imposed on lessees of public lands, then the HB 12-168 should be amended to impose such a requirement in any or renewed lease agreement for public land.

Bertha C. Leon Guerrero, director of the Division of Public Lands, said maintaining various public areas would require additional manpower and other resources at a time when some of the lessees are already laying off employees.

She said it may also be unfair to small mom-and-pop type lessees to be required to maintain a larger tract of land than multimillion-dollar establishments that may have the available manpower to meet the mandates of the proposed law.

Instead of passing the bill, she recommended the implementation of Adopt-A-Highway programs where businesses or other organizations would only take care of the cleanliness of a particular stretch of road they choose to “adopt.”

While the government may provide benefits such as annual tax breaks or recognition to businesses, the success of this program also gives the participants a sense of pride and fulfillment of civic responsibility,. Ms. Guerrero said.