By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

AFTER holding the last public hearing on Friday which drew the participation of six people, the Zoning Board approved the submission of the draft Saipan zoning plan to the island’s legislative delegation for enactment into law.
The board will consider a number of changes before the draft will finally be transmitted to the legislative delegation, according to Zoning Board administrator W. Steve Tilley.
The proposed Saipan zoning map incorporates the Garapan and Beach Road Revitalization Plan and divides the island into 11 zones for certain activities or uses: agricultural, residential, tourism, industrial, mixed commercial and rural.
Tilley, in an interview on Friday, said it has taken a long time for the board to go through the proposed plan due to the research that had to be conducted and meetings with the community that had to be held.
Over a hundred people have attended the public hearings since March, he said.
He added that 18 individuals and several organizations submitted comments or provided oral testimony.
“We’ve been out in the community a lot in the last six months,” Tilley said. “We talked to a lot of people, we heard a lot of people.”
Many of the public concerns and ideas have been incorporated in the draft plan, Tilley said.
He said the board is optimistic that if the draft is sent to the legislative delegation, lawmakers can act on it quickly.
The changes that the board decided to make in the draft includes a contruction height limit for tourist resort zones.
Also incorporated were some changes requested by private land owners, including the definition of service stations that can be allowed in commercial zones “because people are very concerned about noise and odor,” Tilley said.
He said the board considered the possibility of allowing a 150- foot height limit for buildings in tourist resort zones.
The board also decided not to prohibit neon signs as the original draft had suggested, Tilley said.