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DPL: No promised homestead lots in Marpi
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Posted on May 13 2009
Public Lands Secretary John Del Rosario said yesterday none of the estimated 3,400 homestead applicants on Saipan has been promised a lot in Marpi where 62 hectares of land are being cleared of unexploded World War II ordnance.
Rep. Tina Sablan, Taotao Tano president Gregorio Cruz and other members of the community who attended a May 5 public meeting on the Marpi project expressed concern that the clearing is part of a political ploy, to win votes in the November elections.
“Nobody’s promised anything,” Del Rosario told Saipan Tribune yesterday. “Let’s make sure the area is safe now, and then decide what to do with the area later on.”
He said the area is far from being cleaned up of unexploded ordnance. Clearing at the area, he said, is ongoing.
On Monday, Sablan asked Coastal Resources Management director Dr. John Joyner to issue an immediate stop work order on the ongoing Marpi clearing until formal public hearings have been conducted and until a major siting permit has been duly issued.
Sablan said the Marpi project “is proceeding in plain violation of CRM regulations” because of a lack of a major siting permit. Joyner said CRM is following procedures.
Much public outcry and confusion have resulted when land clearing commenced in Marpi, and many questions remain about the apparent breakdown in the local permitting process; the method of land clearing being used and its impact on an area of immense historic, cultural and biological value; the wisdom of the proposal to ultimately establish a homestead development in that area of Marpi; and the possible conflicts between an outdated public land use plan that has proven difficult to find, and the recently adopted Saipan Zoning Law of 2008, said Sablan.
As of yesterday afternoon, Sablan said she has not received a written reply from the CRM director.
