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Lot near Aqua Resort changed to village commercial
»Lot will be used for condominium project
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Posted on Jun 10 2014
The Saipan Zoning Board has rezoned to village commercial a lot that has two zoning districts during a board meeting last Thursday.
The applicant had requested to change the zoning district of the entire lot to village commercial for a condominium project. The area is currently zoned as both rural and village commercial. The lot is located in Achugao along Chalan Pale Arnold next to Aqua Resort Club.
Zoning administrator Therese Ogumoro said it had been zoned into two zoning districts due to the passage of the Saipan Zoning Law of 2013, which required that Chalan Pale Arnold be rezoned up to 300 feet from the centerline of the street on both sides.
“The purpose is for a condominium and it would be a good fit for a village commercial so we are asking to consider the property as village commercial,” said Chris Fryling, the architect for the proposed project.
Zoning board chair Diego Blanco asked why the area was zoned rural while the other half have been zoned village commercial. “My concern is that if we rezone this lot tonight, why not rezone the rest of the area?” Blanco said.
Other lots had also been zoned into two zoning areas.
Ogumoro said within a section of the Saipan Zoning Law of 2013 the applicant can choose which of the zone they would pick as the zoning area and that the staff would put a recommendation after approval.
“The Saipan Zoning Law of 2013 put in these corridors as you know so that is one of the reasons why we had no one come in to make one of these requests before, but the law requires the applicant to ask the board to which zone it prefers to be in,” Zoning legal counsel Kate Fuller said.
