THE Anaks Ocean View Hill Saipan Homeowners Association Ltd. has requested the Superior Court to issue an order to stop the construction of a car dealership and repair shop in Puerto Rico which held a groundbreaking ceremony recently.
Last week, the CNMI Supreme Court held that the Superior Court had jurisdiction to review a permit issued by the Commonwealth Zoning Board to Atkins Kroll for a Toyota/Lexus dealership and vehicle repair facility in Puerto Rico.
On Jan. 4, 2022, Atkins Kroll applied for a permit with the Zoning Board to build its dealership and vehicle repair facility next to the Anaks condominium complex in Puerto Rico. On March 18, 2022, the Zoning Board approved Atkins Kroll’s application and issued the permit on April 13, 2022.
Anaks homeowners association then filed a petition to challenge the permit in Superior Court. The court, through Judge Pro Tem David Wiseman, dismissed the petition, saying it was untimely filed.
But on appeal, the local Supreme Court held that the Anaks petition was timely filed, and set aside the dismissal.
Following the high court’s decision, the Anaks homeowners, represented by attorneys Kate B. Fuller and Colin Thompson, requested the trial court to issue a stay order with respect to Zoning Permit 2022-10382 “to prevent irreparable harm to Anaks.”
“Anaks has a very high probability of success in prevailing on its claim that the Zoning Board’s permitting decision is arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law,” the homeowners stated.
They added that the Zoning Board failed to provide actual notice of the hearing on March 9, 2022, and failed to provide 14 days’ notice of the March 18, 2022 hearing.
Further, the Zoning Board “failed to give Anaks adequate notice and opportunity to be heard on the record at the hearing on March 19, 2022, failed to provide a hearing under 1 CMC §§ 9109-9110, and violated Anaks’ right to due process,” the homeowners stated.
“Allowing construction to proceed before this appeal is resolved is likely to inflict irreparable harm on the Anaks residents,” they added.
“Anaks filed this case against the Zoning Board to protect the residents’ health, safety, welfare, as well as right to quiet enjoyment of 175 people — in their own homes —and AK is fighting it unreservedly to save itself the cost of putting its commercial vehicle repair center in Lower Base, or somewhere similar,” the homeowners stated.
They added that the Zoning Board’s conditional permit does nothing to address Anaks’ concerns.
They said, “Placing the largest vehicle repair and auto-body shop, complete with an automotive paint booth emitting hazardous air pollutants, in the front yard of a well-established residential community is the quintessential ‘pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard’ situation.”
The trial court has yet to schedule a hearing on the homeowners’ motion for stay of agency action.
