‘Master map’ of Saipan in the works

The Saipan Mayor’s Office will be working closely with the Department of Commerce’s Central Statistics Division to create a draft of a “master map” of Saipan that will make clear village boundaries.

The need for official village boundaries is crucial to the work of the SMO’s Saipan Street Naming and Addressing Division, which is in charge of assigning establishments and residences their own building numbers. The street that a building is close to, its assigned number, and the village where the building is located are all part of a street address.

In a joint interview with special assistant to the mayor Henry Hofschneider and Global Information Systems technicians Janice Celis and Jaycee Rdialul on Tuesday, the three shared what is in the pipeline in terms of the creation of a master map for Saipan and a possible memorandum of agreement between the SMO and CSD.

According to Hofschneider, the team that actually goes out to survey and assign buildings their numbers has had complications in the past with residents claiming they live in one village while the SMO’s maps say otherwise. “When Jaycee [Rdialul] and Janice [Celis] go out to deliver house numbers they often get feedback from homeowners and building owners that they’re not in this village, they’re in that village,” said Hofschneider.

The solution? Creating a master map of Saipan, including village boundaries, through a collaboration with the CSD. The CSD is heavily involved with the collection of data and statistics for the 10-year CNMI census reports, and has its own statistical maps of Saipan that it uses for research purposes. Hofschneider said a memorandum of agreement between the SMO and CSD would allow the SMO and CSD to share and cross-reference the data and maps that the two offices have on hand and to begin a collaborative effort to create an official master map of Saipan. An MOoA has already been written and currently awaits the signature of Mayor David M. Apatang and acting Department of Commerce Secretary Edward M. Deleon Guerrero.

Hofschneider said the office hopes to begin working with the CSD on a draft of the master map by Aug.1, with a first draft of the map being completed three months after and a final draft being submitted to the CNMI Legislature to be voted on for adoption six months later. Hofschneider said the SMO also plans to make the drafts public and open to public comments.