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Lifting of zoning suspension OK’d
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Posted on Jun 11 2004
The Saipan and Northern Island Legislative Delegation passed yesterday a bill that lifts the suspension of zoning on Saipan, despite a reported opinion by the Attorney General’s Office advising against it.
The AGO, according to the delegation also questioned the body’s authority over the matter.
“We approved the zoning bill that lifted the suspension of the Zoning Act. We went on record expressing the members’ concerns. We didn’t acknowledge the AG’s opinion,” delegation chairman Pete P. Reyes said yesterday.
The Zoning Act was suspended in 1994 when property owners reportedly resisted the policy, which they perceived to be intruding on their right to decide what to do with their private properties.
The Saipan zoning law, enacted during the 8th Legislature, was in effect for one year before the Legislature decided to suspend it due to “cultural reasons.”
For instance, the Zoning Act prohibits certain accommodations of a clan, or family owned land, which was seen as an indirect collision with the culture and traditions and values of the people.
People then reportedly began to complain to the Legislature that the zoning law was beginning to take its toll on their traditional practices.
The bill lifting the suspension was previously described by the House of Representatives as “comprehensive” and one that includes the proposed Garapan Planning Improvement District.
The bill intends to ensure that any development is pursued in an orderly manner, taking into account environmental protection, historic preservation, economic viability and beautification.
Among others, the measure, authored by Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero, proposes that the zoning agency may order demolition or removal of nonconforming structures. Violations would also be meted out with monetary penalties and imprisonment.
The proposed measure would not allow poker establishments, massage parlors, and certain adult uses and heavy equipment repair shops within the Garapan Planning Improvement District.
