Eight years after the Zoning Act “expired,” the government says it will revive a zoning plan for Saipan,
Becky Lizama, permit manager of the Coastal Resources Management, said a request for proposal may soon be issued to find an expert who will help assess the kind of zoning needed on Saipan.
Lizama, the guest speaker at Tuesday’s Rotary Club of Saipan meeting, said the proposed land use management plan will be a limited form of zoning. It is being developed in cooperation with Reps. Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan, and Rep. Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, Lizama said.
CRM has received federal grants to initiate the project.
In a separate interview, Guerrero said this is a “perfect opportunity” to “look back at the mistakes we made with the absence of zoning.”
“We are in a fact finding stage and having initial talks. We are taking our time because we want to do it right this time,” said Guerrero, the chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications.
Guerrero said Gov. Juan N. Babauta earlier expressed support for the creation of a task force to oversee the creation of a zoning plan.
Under the proposed land use management plan, poker establishments will not be allowed to open near schools. Any firm involved in hazardous materials will also not be allowed to be built in a residential area.
“With all the developments that happened in the past years, this will only be a limited zoning. We don’t want it to be too restrictive to prevent development in some areas,” said Lizama.
