Lawmakers and tourism officials want to adopt mandatory maintenance standards for properties in hotel zones and penalties for noncompliance.
Bill 160-38, discussed at a recent Guam Visitors Bureau meeting and heard by senators on Friday, would adopt the International Property Maintenance Code for Tumon.
GVB Board Chairman George Chiu said while major renovations are difficult given the current economic environment, the measure would focus on basic maintenance issues.
“This is basically to clean up the derelict buildings here in Tumon,” Chiu said during a Thursday board meeting. “You know, we want to make Guam a nice place to visit. And I know it's very difficult when business is bad to fix and spend money on renovations. But you know, this is not renovation that we're talking about, major renovation. The way this is, we're talking about basic touch up, clean up, maintenance. It doesn't cost a lot of money just to cut the grass around your building.”
Visitor arrivals of Guam are down 57.5% from 2019 pre-pandemic levels, and GVB and the Department of Public Works have been trying to improve the island’s curb appeal.
The bill states the two agencies would continue to work closely together as maintenance requirements are developed, “including basic standards for health, safety and habitability; applicability to the types and locations of buildings and structure; scope of coverage such as lighting, parking areas sanitation and fire safety; responsibilities of owners, occupants and operators and regulatory enforcement.”
Vice Speaker Tony Ada said although the tourism industry faces economic challenges, landlords should be held accountable to properties they rent out to smaller businesses.
“If you have a store in a big commercial building that the landlord is not up keeping, naturally, people are not going to want to come in, because if the outside looks like this, they're scared to see what the inside would look like as well,” Ada said.
