SNILD passes bill to rezone districts

After close to three hours of deliberation and two power outages, the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation passed House Local Bill 19-53, which aims to rezone certain areas and districts on the island.

The bill amends the Saipan Zoning Law of 2013 where the delegation sees fit to rezone certain areas and districts in the best interest of the community. The bill passed by a vote of 15-6.

House Floor Leader Rep. George N. Camacho (R-Saipan) introduced HLB 19-53 that hopes to rezone specific lots on Saipan’s northern area, particularly in San Roque where it hopes to classify eight lands to tourist resort zoning district.

Camacho, before voting was done, said there have been a lot of discussions on the concerns stated about the bill but he told his colleagues that part of their job as legislators is to make difficult decisions.

“The concerns are not against development. Let’s face it, you are proposing a 300- to 500-room hotel in that area and there will traffic conditions since buses and rental cars will be coming, and noise due to construction,” said Camacho.

“But part of our job is to make difficult decisions. We all know that this will help the CNMI with job opportunities, money to the CNMI coffers, and community involvement [of the investor]. There is no perfect proposal.”

He added that one must weigh the good and the bad, and the positive and negative sides of the issue. “Today we’re addressing the rezoning of the area. We must consider our options and the potential of growth for positive things in the community.”

“The concerns on sewer, power, and environment, there are agencies who are in charge of this and that will be taken care of.”

Rep. Vinson Sablan (Ind-Saipan), one of the SNILD members who voted no, said that it was important for them to make a sound decision for the residents of San Roque and the north side. “We heard many sides on the issue, especially the affected communities. We debated and presented positions at least we should have given the residents who oppose it a chance,” said Sablan.

He added that he doesn’t oppose development and investors coming to the north. “We need to be aware of not only now but for the future. I’m not against development but I’m a strong proponent of preservation of village land and things that we enjoy.”

“Tourism is our main industry, but we must understand that we must be able to have a diverse field on the island, we must have balance that we could offer to our visitors.”

Viola Alepuyo, who attended the session being a resident of San Roque, said she supports the bill since the process required in the zoning law is already antiquated. “It works then but it is not working now. So it is better to amend the law.

“We’re not even in the development yet. This is only the first step and there is a process that needs to be done and requirements to be met by the developer. The [SNILD] members all have good points and we must take into consideration the protection of the environment and preservation of our culture.”

Alepuyo said that getting approval for your sanitary permit at the Coastal Resources Management alone is a stringent process with the developer also needing to hire an archaeologist if artifacts are unearthed during excavation and a traffic engineer to study the flow of traffic in the area.