Zoning board approves BSI permit for Garapan lot

Questions on the location of its hotel’s location highlighted the public hearing on the zoning permit for Best Sunshine International, Ltd. at the Pedro P. Tenoriio Multi-Purpose Center last night.

The Commonwealth Zoning Board, after a public hearing, voted unanimously to grant the zoning permit to Best Sunshine to build its first hotel casino in the CNMI, to be located on Garapan.

The majority of those who gave supporting comments to Best Sunshine—lawmakers, regulators, businessmen, and retirees, among others—mentioned the benefits of establishing the hotel casino and the money that it is expected to bring once it becomes operational.

Members of the community gather at a Zoning Board public hearing for Best Sunshine International Ltd. at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center on April 30. (Joel D. Pinaroc)

However, two public comments questioned the location of the hotel casino.

Liana M.S. Hofschneider, founder of the Council of Chamorro Advancement, said the location sits above an ancient burial ground.

Hofschneider said the developers’ bulldozers, and diggers have been desecrating sacred grounds.

She said she is appealing to the Department of Public Lands and the Historic Preservation Office to not allow Best Sunshine to lease the land, and the Zoning Board not to grant the permit.

She also asked Best Sunshine to find an alternative location so that the area can be transformed into a walking park for the community.

For Vinni Orsini, a young CNMI resident, the hotel (or a representation of it) does not show any prominent feature of the local culture.

“Where is influence of Spain and Japan in the architecture?” he said, adding that there seems to be no representation of the Chamorro culture, and specifically, a recognizable feature of Saipan.

‘Grand Mariana’

Best Sunshine CEO Mark Brown presented a computer-generated model of the hotel, which he said will be called the “Grand Mariana.”

Grand Mariana will be 14 stories high, and will have 254 rooms and six villas. The parking lot will have more than 200 parking slots, accessible via a 30-foot side street.

Brown said it will have the casino, restaurants facing the beach, shopping stalls, and others.

The hotel is expected to rise in a more than 19,000-square-meter public land that has been leased to Best Sunshine for 40 years.

Brown also promised that all the questions of preserving the local culture will be considered, not just on the design of the hotel building but also on how to address the concern on the issue of the burial grounds.

Opposing the land lease

Hofschneider of the Council of Chamorro Advancement, meanwhile, said her group has submitted a letter of opposition to the DPL dated April 28. The letter indicated that the leased area “hosts significant cultural and historical past” and a site of an ancient Chamorro village.

The letter asks DPL to rescind the lease agreement, and accept the suggestion of her group to convert the area into a memorial walking park.

Hofschneider, in an interview, said the ancient remains of Chamorros are scattered in the area, indicating that it is indeed, an ancient burial ground, which is estimated to be more 1,000 years old.

She said the DPL has not responded to the letter.