“I firmly believe that your zoning office’s anti-business mentality is a major detriment to the socio-economic recovery of Saipan and eventually will probably have to zone the entirety of Saipan as a “business ghost island,” said Rep. Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan, in a letter to the Zoning Board.
Torres said the board issued Servino & Associates a “Notice of Violation-Stop and Cease and Desist Order,” apparently due to its “lack of permit as a business owner.”
Servino & Associates is doing business as Advanced Engineering Consulting Company in the Oleai/San Jose area.
But Torres said the firm has been in business for over 20 years and has business permit with an implied zoning permit.
“Servino & Associates should be allowed to continue doing their long-time business based upon the legal permission and the notion of a ‘grandfathering exemption before the enactment of the Saipan Zoning Law of 2008, and subsequently, the fact that they were granted a legal business license in 2009 at the San Jose location,” said Torres.
“Please use your common sense and rescind your [Notice of Violation] and allow Servino & Associates to continue doing business and to continue paying taxes and to continue serving our island community with their legitimate services,” he added in his letter.
The Zoning Board could not be immediately reached to comment on Torres’ letter.
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