Guam senators held a hearing on a bill they hope will streamline the zoning law for affordable housing while maintaining public notice and environmental safeguards.
The bill’s author, Senator Tina Muña Barnes, was not present at the hearing but submitted testimony that was read by Vice Speaker Tony Ada.
“It will allow projects to move forward, not in years, but in months, so that we don't lose critical financing, or watch costs inflate until they can't be afforded,” Muña Barnes wrote.
According to the bill, the island needs to increase its supply of “affordable housing units, particularly for low- to moderate-income households earning between 50% and 150% of Guam’s Area Median Income, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.”
Currently, three Mayors Planning Council meetings are required for each zoning application, which Bill 164-38 states “may unnecessarily delay otherwise meritorious and time-sensitive affordable housing projects. These delays are particularly burdensome where grant deadlines, financing timelines, or escrow closing conditions require certainty in zoning approvals.”
The bill proposes a streamlined zoning process “to support the rapid development of affordable and multifamily housing through appropriate conversions of existing zones such as Agricultural (A), R-1, Commercial (C), Hotel (H), and Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), subject to clear environmental, infrastructure, and planning standards.”
Representatives from the Guam Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Statistics and Plans and the Micronesia Community Development Corp. supported the bill with suggested amendments.
Concerns were raised that the bill would allow developers to install advanced nitrogen-reducing onsite wastewater disposal systems on properties over the Northern Guam Lens Aquifer or water resource protection areas if sewer hookup is not available.
“Guam EPA believes that this should only be extended to R1 single-family dwellings that meet the current minimum lot size requirements,” Guam EPA Administrator Michelle Lastimoza testified. “Apartment buildings and housing subdivisions should not be allowed to use the nitrogen-reducing onsite water disposal system within the groundwater protection zone.”
Carlos Camacho of the Micronesia Community Development Corp. said once approved through the streamlined process, housing units should be restricted by limiting rents and tenant incomes for a period of 15 years, rather than 10 years as the bill states, to comply with new federal requirements.
Liz Duenas of the Guam Association of Realtors testified that the bill would help cut down on bureaucratic delays that stall development, but Land Management Director Joe Borja offered a different take on delays.
“To me, I wouldn't call it a delay,” he said. “It's that legal requirement.”
Borja suggested that if zoning laws were leading to delays, the laws could be changed, and not just for affordable housing projects.
“I guess the title of the bill is to streamline for affordable housing projects. I would maybe request that let's streamline it for any project,” he said. “Why should we streamline it just for affordable housing?”
Sen. Telo Taitague said the crisis is with affordable housing, not high-end or commercial real estate.
“What we're having a problem with on this island is people being able to rent affordable houses. We open this up to anybody and everybody, like you said, we're just creating places for military to rent out,” she said. “And that was our biggest problem on this island, is that a lot of these apartments and homes are being rented out to military. It's undercutting our local people who can't afford it.”
