Concerns regarding HLB 23-59
Dear Senate President DeLeon Guerrero, House Speaker Villagomez, and SNILD chair Sablan,
On behalf of the 200-plus residents living at ANAKS Ocean View Hill, we write to express our grave concerns regarding the proposed amendments in HLB 23-59 to the Saipan Zoning Law of 2013, as amended.
Article I, § 9, of the CNMI Constitution provides that: “Each person has the right to a clean and healthful public environment in all areas including the land, air and water…Harmful and unnecessary noise pollution, and the storage of nuclear or radioactive material and the dumping or storage of any type of nuclear waste within the surface or submerged lands and waters of the Northern Mariana Islands, are prohibited except as provided by law.”
The current version of the right to a clean and healthful environment singles out two issues—noise pollution and radioactive/nuclear waste—as particularly detrimental to residents. This language is a result of the Second Constitutional Convention, which amended Article I, § 9. The framers of this provision stated that it applied to residential neighborhoods. The Second Northern Marianas Constitutional Convention, Report to the Convention by the Committee on Personal Rights & Natural Resources, Committee Recommendation No. 28, discussed the need for tranquil and peaceful residential spaces, stating, “the peacefulness of our lifestyle and the tranquility of our people will be protected if we include the prohibition of noise pollution coming from any unjustified source or sources. Under this provision any activities resulting in excessive noise should be located or relocated away from public areas, particularly residential areas…”
The second Constitutional Convention intended the right to be free of excessive noise to apply to residential communities, including ANAKS. ANAKS has been a part of the CNMI for 40 years, and is home to a broad range of residents, including families with children, retirees, the self-employed, as well as many professionals in the CNMI, such as attorneys, judges, teachers, business owners, governmental representatives (e.g., the Japan Consul), and large number of medical professionals working at CHCC and elsewhere. Atkins Kroll’s current facility threatens the residents of ANAKS with excessive noise pollution.
We are extremely concerned about the proposed amendments to the Saipan Zoning Law in HLB 23-59, which would change the Zoning Law by adding a new definition of “Automobile Sales and Service” to the Zoning Law. As you may know, Atkins Kroll Saipan, Inc., an Inchcape Company, proposed an identical amendment to the definition of Automobile Sales and Service to the Commonwealth Zoning Board by letter dated March 4, 2024. Inchcape/AK later withdrew this proposal from consideration. Instead, they have adopted a strategy of trying to persuade the legislators in the Saipan and Northern Islands Delegation to amend the Zoning Law.
HLB 23-59 changes the definition of Automobile Sales and Service to include all aspects of vehicle repair, general, such as body work, glass repair, and automotive painting. Moreover, HLB 23-59 seems to expand sales, rental, and body work beyond automobiles, because it refers to motor vehicles generally. In the Zoning Law, motor vehicles include heavy equipment, boats, trucks, under vehicle repair, general. These activities are currently allowed as of right only in Industrial areas, and in Mixed Commercial areas require a conditional use permit from the Zoning Board. Automobile sales and service is limited to these two zones only.
HLB 23-59 changes the procedure for mixed commercial districts, which are often adjacent to residences and occasionally to Residential districts, such as the village of Gualo Rai, to allow these activities as of right. This means applying for a permit from the Zoning Office, without ever getting a hearing before the Zoning Board.
On behalf of all the residents of the CNMI, we point out that HLB-23-59 would allow any person or company selling new or used cars and other motor vehicles to erect a paint booth and body shop, and service all kinds of motor vehicles, including heavy equipment immediately next to many of the villages on the island. To reiterate an earlier statement, the law currently entitles these CNMI residents to a hearing before the Zoning Board, if they do not want this activity next door to their home. Why change the right to a hearing? The bottom line is that no one wants these activities to occur immediately next to their homes.
This change affects many more people than the ones living at ANAKS. In considering HLB 23-59, the Legislature must also consider all the residences and villages adjoining or close to mixed commercial districts. Looking at the current version of the Saipan Zoning map, it seems that there are residences adjacent to or near mixed commercial districts in Tanapag on the east side of Middle Road, at the bottom of Navy Hill, in Chinatown off of Chalan Pale Arnold Road to the east, in Gualo Rai, San Jose, As Lito, Chalan Kiya, Chalan Kanoa, Chalan Piao, Susupe, Afetna, and Dandan. There are mixed commercial districts abutting tourist resort and Beach Road districts. Body shops, paint booths, and heavy equipment and diesel truck repair are also incompatible with the idyllic island getaway the CNMI strives to present to tourists. There is no reason the SNILD should change what has been properly regarded as industrial activity under the Zoning Law to a permitted use next to homes of individuals and families and in tourist districts.
We believe that you, as legislators, want to defend, uphold, and protect the CNMI Constitution and the constitutional rights of the residents of the CNMI, including their rights to a clean and healthful environment. If you approve HLB 23-59, general vehicle repair and auto body and paint shops will be permissible in close proximity to a majority of residential neighborhoods in the CNMI, allowing heavy equipment repair for dump trucks, bulldozers, school and tour buses, boat engines, etc., and few if any of these businesses will be as well maintained as the Inchcape/AK facility. It is difficult to understand why the elected representatives of the people of the CNMI would consider making this amendment for the benefit of a multibillion-dollar multinational company, Inchcape and its subsidiary Atkins Kroll. Inchcape/AK has completed its facility and they do not need any further assistance from the CNMI government, particularly not at the expense of the nearby residents at ANAKS, and the expense of many other CNMI residents that may be adversely affected by such facilities in the future run by businesses that are less well-known and reputable than Inchcape/AK.
Thank you for this opportunity to provide our formal comments on HLB 23-59. We appreciate your time and consideration of our position when deliberating on this proposed legislation.
Respectfully,
ANAKS board of directors
Bart Jackson, president
Dr. Martin Rohringer, vice president
Larry Lee, secretary
Tomas Abel, treasurer
Viola Alepuyo, director
Letter to the Editor
