HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Hybrid Land Use Commission has approved a conditional use permit for TeleGuam Holdings LLC, better known as GTA, to construct a cable landing station at Inalåhan.
The specific project site is Lot 154-R4, a total area of 8,476 square meters just a short distance from the waters of Inalåhan Bay.
The purpose of the project is to provide an eastern landing site as an alternative to the five current western cable landing sites on Guam, according to a project presentation made to the commission on Thursday, which is when the approval was granted.
Upon completion, the proposed landing station will allow GTA to bring several new fiber-optic cables onshore, “expanding the existing telecommunications network between Asia, Australia, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland,” GTA said in its presentation.
As part of the scope of the project, GTA plans to install six new ducts from a landside entry point within the landing station parcel to an exit point on the seafloor of the bay. The landing station will contain a cable vault for the underground cable ducts, an equipment room for server racks, two generator rooms, two electrical rooms, storage rooms, a loading area and two unisex restrooms.
The landing station is intended to be primarily unmanned.
The project won’t disturb wetlands, totaling about 0.81 acres in area, mapped within the western sector of Lot 154-R4, GTA said in its project description. A minimum 25-foot buffer would be maintained between the wetland boundary and the construction footprint for the landing station, with only stormwater infrastructure to be constructed within the buffer zone, the project description stated.
A GHLUC staff report on the project stated that GTA has been consulting with various government entities and property owners to address any issues that might impact surrounding properties. The staff concluded that the cable landing project is compatible with existing uses of nearby properties, and that GTA has been consulting and will continue to consult with various government entities and the Inalåhan Municipal Planning Council to ensure compliance.
Vista Del Mar extension
In addition to the cable landing project, the GHLUC approved a one-year time extension for the tentative development plan submitted by Vista Del Mar LLC, which is for a proposed hotel-resort and multifamily and single-family residential development in Tamuning.
The GHLUC approved Vista Del Mar’s tentative development plan in June 2022. Phase 1 of the project is to develop the hotel-water park element of the complex. Phase 2 is to develop the 288-unit multifamily condominium element of the complex. Phase 3 will be to develop a subdivision of 47 single-family residential units.
The Guam Land Use Commission meets April 13, 2023, at the Department of Land Management Conference Room in Tamuning.
