HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Lawmakers held a public hearing Friday on Bill 56-37, which would transfer authority of Yigo property used for the Guam International Raceway from the CHamoru Land Trust Commission to the Department of Parks and Recreation.
The bill was introduced after the CLTC decided to evict the Guam Racing Federation earlier this year.
Henry Simpson, the federation’s president, sees the transition as beneficial for the future of the raceway. But while several members of the community testified in favor of the bill, government organizations raised objections.
It was already known the Land Trust Commission opposed Bill 56, but through written testimony on Friday, Parks and Rec stated that it doesn’t support the measure.
“Our department has no such mechanism or experience for assuming authority for property that contains leasehold benefit. Lastly, removing (the raceway lot) from the CHamoru Land Trust Commission will result in the loss of thousands of dollars in revenue per month, which would adversely affect providing critically needed infrastructure for its property,” the acting director and deputy director of Parks and Rec said in written testimony.
Land Trust Commission officials have said they don’t oppose racing activities, but that the racing federation committed violations and acted in ways that led to the eviction.
Before speaking Friday, Alice Taijeron, the commission’s administrative director, said she knew her testimony would cause “a lot of ire” but she would state it anyway, adding that it was the commission’s job to “protect the beneficiaries” of the Land Trust.
“The CHamoru Land Trust Commission supports racing activities. That is different from giving away or giving over 200 acres of prime property to a special interest group at the cost of CHamoru Land Trust beneficiaries. And that is what this bill does,” Taijeron said.
“The CLTC evicted a tenant who, for their gain, raped, destroyed, permanently damaged pristine limestone forest, which we may never see again. The Guam Racing Federation had over 20 years to build the raceway. Instead, they did little to nothing to enhance the property for racetrack activities. Instead, they mined, they quarried, they sold what they extracted, for profit. Not CLTC profit,” Taijeron said.
A 20-year license granted to the federation by the CLTC allows alterations to the property, including the removal of topsoil or coral, to develop facilities, and 50% of the material extracted, or its value, would belong to the CLTC.
The license expired in 2018. The federation had been occupying the property on a month-to-month tenancy before it was evicted.
A law passed in late 2018 authorized the CLTC to commercially lease the property for 50 years, but prohibited mineral extraction. The federation was given the right of first refusal. The CLTC had 180 days to negotiate and submit a lease to the Legislature for approval.
That didn’t happen.
Eviction status
Lawmakers held an information hearing on GRF’s eviction status Friday, just before the public hearing on Bill 56. Speaker Therese Terlaje, the head of the legislative committee on land, stated negotiations continued well beyond the 180 days. In June 2019, the federation presented a proposal determined to have conflicted with the law’s provisions prohibiting mineral extraction and the cost of the lease.
Simpson appeared at the hearing Friday to testify in favor of Bill 56, explaining some of the issues the federation had faced building it, including delays due to the military buildup.
With regard to the law that gave the CLTC authority to draft a commercial lease, Simpson said there was a plan in place for a five-year lease, with 10% of the value of the property being the yearly rental.
“But that was for a commercial lease, and we were not a commercial enterprise. We consider ourselves a public-private partnership. … The lease was never sent down to the Legislature for approval, … so the Land Trust did not fulfill its duty to provide a lease for us,” Simpson said.
Terlaje said it was disingenuous to say the CLTC wasn’t interested in negotiating a lease, adding that documents showed otherwise and that the proposed lease from the racing federation conflicted with law.
Simpson invited members of the legislative committee on land to visit the raceway, so he could explain any questioned activity.
“It wasn’t done for mining, it wasn’t done for mineral extraction, it wasn’t done for any other purpose but to build a racetrack,” Simpson said.
Terlaje later said land in Hågat had been available for years before the federation entered into the initial license agreement with the CLTC, but Simpson said it won’t work for a drag strip.
“And there’s no quarrying materials there to be sold,” Terlaje interjected.
Simpson responded that the federation doesn’t want quarrying materials.
“If you didn’t want quarrying materials, then we would have a lease right now with the Guam Raceway Federation because we authorized a 50-year lease without mineral extraction,” Terlaje said.
Simpson said the raceway property needed to be graded.
Terlaje said the Department of Public Works denied renewal of a grading permit because the permit issued wasn’t equivalent to the extraction activities, among other reasons.
“We’re not quarrying; … we’re grading, so we can build this racetrack,” Simpson said.
He then read an engineer’s letter that stated it was unclear how the development of the raceway had fallen under the category of mineral extraction, as all documents and drawings developed over 24 years refer to work as grading as necessary to reach target racetrack facility elevations.
Regarding allegations that limestone extraction may have been fraudulent, Simpson read from the letter that stated changes in the topography of the raceway generally match the coral removed by contractors working on the site.
The federation was supposed to vacate the raceway property on June 2, but Simpson said it would remain until ordered by a court to leave, as advised by its attorney.
Taijeron said Friday that CLTC officials visited the property on June 13 and found a subtenant of the federation on site. A letter was sent to the subtenant, saying the subtenant would have to vacate, according to Taijeron.
When asked about Simpson’s statements about not leaving the property, Taijeron said there are many issues the commission is discussing and it’s seeking legal guidance. The CLTC has received emails from parties interested in running the raceway, according to Taijeron.
Ongoing audit
The Office of Public Accountability is conducting an audit on material extractions at the raceway, which is expected to be published at the end of July.
Terlaje said she wanted to delay the public hearing on Bill 56 until the audit was completed, but there is a 120-day expiration on public hearing rights, and if she didn’t hold the hearing, the bill’s author, Sen. Dwayne San Nicolas, would have held the hearing without the committee.
In closing off Friday’s public hearing, San Nicolas, wearing a “Save the Track” T-shirt, said it will always be a hot topic when speaking about land.
“I understand the importance of having property kept for the benefit of the CHamoru people of Guam. However, when I went out to the track, I saw different colored kids, kids of different ethnicit(ies) … and that’s why I’m doing this – to preserve that track not only for the Indigenous population, but for all children of this island for many years to come,” San Nicolas said.
Terlaje said she didn’t hear any testimony regarding race, and that lawmakers want to support people who use the raceway and the CLTC in its work.
<strong>”The CLTC evicted a tenant who, for their gain, raped, destroyed, permanently damaged pristine limestone forest, which we may never see again. The Guam Racing Federation had over 20 years to build the raceway. Instead, they did little to nothing to enhance the property for racetrack activities. Instead, they mined, they quarried, they sold what they extracted, for profit. Not CLTC profit,” Taijeron said.</strong>
Alice Taijeron, CHamoru Land Trust Commission administrative director, answers questions during a public hearing Friday, June 23, 2023, at the Guam Congress Building in Hagåtña on the eviction of the Guam International Raceway.
