“You can, as a member of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, propose changes to improve the law,” Ogumoro said in her letter faxed to Torres’s office Monday.
Torres, Ind.-Saipan, has asked Ogumoro “to exercise common sense and utilize the Saipan Zoning Law of 2008 manual, for the benefit of business, not the detriment of business.”
After reviewing Torres’ letters on behalf of Servino & Associates, doing business as Advanced Engineering Services Consulting Company, and the New Beginners Ministries International Church, the acting zoning administrator told the lawmaker that suspending the zoning law is “inappropriate.”
“Zoning is a business-friendly activity that provides certainty and predictability to business and residents alike,” Ogumoro said.
She added: “The Zoning Office is doing its best to administer the zoning law in a fair, equitable, and even-handed manner.”
Ogumoro also asked the representatives of Servino & Associates and the New Beginners Ministries International Church to come to their office in Dandan “and discuss the matter with” her.
“Moreover, I would like to point out that you are very closely connected to these two cases and it may be better to talk with the zoning office, in addition to the applicants, to get the full picture of the situation,” Ogumoro told Torres.
She said zoning office records “do not show that Servino was grandfathered in under the Saipan Zoning Law of 2007.”
She said in March 2008, after the zoning law went into effect, Servino obtained a business license indicating that the business was located in Chalan Laulau.
The Feb. 2009 record indicated that Servino was requesting to relocate from Chalan Laulau to San Antonio.
“The proposed used is not permitted in the zoning district,” Ogumoro said, hence no zoning permit was issued.
She said the zoning office did not tell the New Beginnings to vacate its premises.
“The Zoning Office told New Beginnings that a church was a conditional use in a residential neighborhood and that there is a process for approving conditional uses.”
Unfortunately, Ogumoro said, New Beginnings chose not to apply for a conditional permit.
“The process of applying for a conditional use permit certainly does not prohibit people from worshipping as they please in their home or having friends over to worship,” Ogumoro told Torres.
The process simply requires forms to be filled out and information provided, so that the Zoning Office and board can make a determination under the zoning law, Ogumoro said.
