Zoning: No deadline yet for adult businesses to relocate

The CNMI Zoning Office has not set a deadline for adult businesses to move out from Saipan’s main thoroughfares because they have yet to establish a designated adult business zoning district.

Zoning Office administrator Therese Ogumoro told Saipan Tribune this during an interview after serving as a guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Saipan weekly meeting yesterday at Hyatt Regency Saipan.

“The current owners are allowed to operate where they are and have no deadlines for them to move out due to the absence of a designated adult business zoning districts. New establishments, however, will not be able to operate,” she said.

Back in January 2014, Zoning board members agreed to give the Legislature a free hand to choose the best location for the adult business park.

Saipan Local Law 18-6 abolished the Saipan Zoning Law of 2013, which designated a long swath of land on Saipan as the adult business overlay zoning district. These are mostly privately owned and located from the middle of Garapan to central San Jose along Chalan Pale Arnold or Middle Road. However, there was never any designation of Adult Business Parks in the law, hence the enactment of SLL 18-6.

Ogumoro, meanwhile, clarified that massage parlors are adult businesses except those offering methods of practice by chiropractors, massage therapists, athletic trainers, and are professionally licensed or certified.

Also not included are those in a massage facility located in hotels with more than 20 rooms, or homes in which massage is done by traditional healers recognized by the customs of the Northern Mariana Islands.

In January 2014 the Zoning Office was given 120 days to come up with a recommendation on which site is best suitable for designation as an adult business park. So far, the Zoning Office has not determined possible designations yet.

Department of Public Land requirements have to be made and there are no detailed requirements as of now, said Ogumoro.

Sites that were originally identified as possible areas for the adult businesses included the Old Samoan Housing site, located between Orchid Street and the ABC Building in Garapan. Due to its isolation from residential villages and available utilities, the former Puerto Rico dumpsite was also considered. Both sites have easy access to pedestrian paths and are adjacent to tourist markets.

Another possible site is the former La Fiesta Mall in San Roque.

More information about the Saipan Zoning Law of 2013 could be found at www.zoning.gov.mp.