DPL sues company over wall construction

The Department of Public Lands has filed a lawsuit against a private company that leased three public lots in Garapan but allegedly illegally constructed an unsafe hollow-block wall or warehouse in the property.

DPL, through counsel Braddock J. Huesman, sued Jin Am Saipan Corp. for breach of contract and public nuisance.

Saipan Tribune tried but failed to obtain comments from Jin Am yesterday.

DPL asked the Superior Court to declare the lease terminated and that Jin Am has not further rights to or in the property. The plaintiff also asked the court to order Jin Am to immediately remove the hollow-block wall or warehouse. DPL demanded damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs.

Huesman stated in the complaint that on Aug. 29, 2006, Jin Am Saipan Corp. contacted DPL to inquire about leasing three public land lots in Garapan.

After negotiations, in February 2007, DPL and Jin Am entered into a lease agreement for the three lots totaling 3,347 square meters.

Jin Am’s purpose for entering into the lease was “to construct, operate, manage, and maintain two one-story commercial buildings, and related facilities.”

According to the plans submitted by Jin Am—as approved by DPL—the building bordering the southern property line was to be a trapezoidal shaped building with at least a four-foot setback between the property line and the southern building.

On the southern end of the property are two CUC manholes. The plan allowed CUC access to both manholes from Middle Road along the southern property line.

Huesman said that, in July 2007, Jin Am began fencing off the southern property line, thus interfering with access to neighboring lots, which access had been continually in use for more than 20 years.

“More importantly, however, Jin Am’s unauthorized fencing up to the southern border of the property blocked CUC’s access from Middle Road to the two manhole covers on the property,” the lawyer said.

Huesman said that, on Aug. 2, 2007, the defendant began building a hollow-block wall along the southern property line, blocking access from Middle Road to the back of the property, where one of the CUC manholes is located.

He said a roof was later built joining the hollow-block wall to the southern building to fashion what Jin Am refers to as a “warehouse.”

The hollow-block wall was built with no footings, in violation of the Uniform Building Safety Code, Huesman noted.

He said the company did not obtain permits required from the Department of Environmental Quality or the Department of Public Works prior to building the hollow-block wall which was later closed in to create the “warehouse” structure.

“Had this ‘warehouse’ been shown on the plan as submitted to DPL, it would not have been approved by DPL because it completely blocks CUC’s access from Middle Road to one of CUC’s manholes,” Huesman said.

On July 12, 2007, Jin Am filed an “application for temporary use of public lands” with DPL. In the application, Jin Am applied for a permit to use and pave a right of way located between the southern building and Middle Road.

DPL denied the request.

Despite its failure to obtain the permit, Huesman said, Jin Am nonetheless proceeded to pave the area between the property and Middle Road and began to use it as part of the parking lot for the southern building.

On Aug. 21, 2007, DPL sent to Jin Am, through its president Yong Ki Seo, a “notice of unauthorized use of public land” and ordered Jin Am to “cease and desist any use and occupancy” of the area that Jin Am paved.

The lawyer said Jin Am ignored DPL’s notice.

Eight days later, DEQ issued Jin Am a “notice of violation/cease and desist order.”

The notice of violation/cease and desist order was issued after a DEQ Enforcement Officer conducted a routine inspection and found that Jin Am’s land clearing for water line installations had occurred without first obtaining an earthmoving and erosion control permit for the DEQ office.

“Construction continued at the site and, on information and belief, Jin Am has never complied with DEQ’s order to correct the violations, and is thus presently in violation of DEQ’s order,” he said.

On Oct. 30, 2007, DPL, through its legal counsel, wrote Jin Am a notice of breach of lease and unauthorized use of public land concerning the company’s repeated breaches of the lease and unauthorized use of public land.

After receiving the notice, Huesman said, Jin Am has continued to block CUC and other traffic and to build unauthorized and unsafe structures on public lands and to use public lands without DPL’s approval.

On Dec. 21, 2007, Gov. Benigno Fitial signed the Saipan Zoning Law. The law went into effect on Feb. 1, 2008.

Under the zoning law, Huesman said, a building permit issued before the effective date of the law continues to be valid without a zoning permit only if the building “continues to be in compliance with that permit.”

He said Jin Am’s construction of the “warehouse” is not in compliance with its building permit or the Building Safety Code, and thus a new zoning permit is required if the “warehouse” is to remain.

Under the zoning law, village commercial properties are required to have a side yard setback of 15 feet when adjoining a village residential zone.

Jinam’s “warehouse” has no side yard setback and thus violates the zoning law, Huesman said.