TITLE 1: GOVERNMENT
DIVISION 2: EXECUTIVE BRANCH
§ 20176. Content of the Commonwealth Comprehensive Sustainable Development Plan. The Comprehensive Sustainable Development Plan for the CNMI shall contain specific elements as follows: (a) Land Use. A land use element together with the appropriate zoning recommendations supporting distribution, location, and the extent of uses of land for housing, business, industry, agriculture, recreation, education, public buildings, open space, conservation, and other categories of public and private uses of land, which include islands, reef and lagoon areas, and the sea within the territorial waters, inclusive of a statement of the standards of population and building density and building intensity for the various districts and other areas covered by the Plan, and regulatory criteria governing the use, development, and subdivision of land; provided that the land use plan for public lands shall be consistent with any land use plan prepared by the Department of Public Lands. (b) Community Design. A community design element consisting of standards and principles governing the subdivision and development of land and showing recommended designs for community and neighborhood development and redevelopment, including sites for schools, parks, playgrounds, and other community uses. (c) Transportation. A transportation element which would provide a comprehensive transportation and circulation system consisting of existing and proposed major routes, thoroughfares, highways, and collector streets; locations of rights-of-way, terminals, viaducts, and grade separation, port, harbor, aviation and mass transit lines, and related facilities, all of which are correlated with the land use element of the Plan. (d) Regulations. A regulatory element concerning parking facilities and building setback lines and the delineations of such systems on the land, a system of street naming, housing and building numbering, and such other matters as may be related to the improvement of circulation of traffic. (e) Public Facilities. A public services and facilities element showing general plans for sewage, refuse disposal, drainage, and local utilities, and rights-of-way, easements, and facilities for them. (f) Public Lands. A public lands element that provides an inventory of all government of the CNMI and federal lands. (g) Public Buildings. A public buildings element identifying locations and arrangement of civic and community centers, public schools, libraries, police and fire stations, and other public buildings, including their architecture and the landscape treatment of their grounds. (h) Housing. A housing element consisting of standards and plans for elimination of substandard dwelling conditions, the improvement of housing, and the provision of adequate sites for housing. (i) Redevelopment. A redevelopment element for the elimination of unsafe or blighted areas, community redevelopment and the revitalization of housing sites,
TITLE 1: GOVERNMENT
DIVISION 2: EXECUTIVE BRANCH
business and industrial sites, public building sites, and for other purposes authorized by law. (j) Conservation. A conservation element to guide the conservation, development, and utilization of natural resources including forests, soils, rivers and other waters, harbors, fisheries, wildlife, minerals, and other natural resources which, as sub elements, may also incorporate the following: (1) Reclamation of land and waters; (2) Flood control; (3) Prevention and control of pollution of streams and other waters; (4) Regulations of the use of land in stream channels and conservation areas; (5) Prevention, control, and correction of the erosion of soils, beaches, and shores; and (6) Protection of watersheds. (k) Recreation. A recreation element establishing a comprehensive system of areas and public sites for recreation, including the following and, when practicable, their locations and proposed development: (1) Natural reservations; (2) Parks; (3) Parkways; (4) Beaches; (5) Reef and lagoons; (6) Playgrounds; (7) Historic and archaeological sites; and (8) Other recreation areas. (l) Safety. A safety element for the protection of the community from natural and man-made hazards including features necessary for such protection as evacuation routes, peak load water supply requirements, minimum road widths, clearances around structures, geologic hazard mapping in areas of known geologic hazards. (m) Tourism. A visitor industry element which will establish cooperation and coordination between the public and private sectors to provide for steady and regulated growth within the visitor industry, while developing the industry in a manner that will continue to provide new business and job opportunities and steady employment for the people of the CNMI, and which will enable the CNMI’s people to obtain job training and education geared for upward job mobility within the industry. (n) Development Policy. An overall development strategy including short and long-range socioeconomic development strategy to include policy, opportunities, and programs to address or alleviate problems concerning health services, manpower planning, employment opportunity, education, elimination of poverty, law enforcement, welfare, substandard housing, consumer protection, public revenue and expenditures, cultural heritage preservation, visitor industry, and the
TITLE 1: GOVERNMENT
DIVISION 2: EXECUTIVE BRANCH
like to include population characteristics and economic analysis with projections for each region and sub-region of the island. (o) Capital Improvements. A short and long-range capital improvements program and projects to be derived from public and private input and compiled from schedules of proposed capital improvements submitted to the Director by each department, agency, division, board, commission, branch, and instrumentality of the government of the CNMI; and which shall provide recommendations and identify programs for the balanced development of the island’s port, highway, communication, and public transportation facilities including, but not limited to, institutions of higher learning, health and welfare facilities, correctional institutions, elementary and secondary schools, electric power, water, telephone, sewer, and other utility facilities. (p) Labor Work Force. A labor work force element which will establish cooperation and coordination between the public and private sectors to provide for a sufficient amount of qualified work force for all the industries in the CNMI, while developing the CNMI industries in a sustainable manner that will continue to provide new business and job opportunities and steady employment for the people of the CNMI. (q) Policy Statements. A statement of specific policies for at least each of the following general areas: Socio-economic and human resource development, natural resource development, environmental protection, historical and cultural preservation, public safety, housing and community development, education, land use and population growth, visitor industry, or in other areas deemed appropriate by the Council. (r) Other Elements. Such additional elements dealing with other subjects, which in the judgment of the Council relate to the physical development of the CNMI. Source: PL 20-20 § 3 (Oct. 6, 2017), modified. Commission Comment: The Commission changed semicolons to periods at the end of (a)–(q), changed “prepared the” to “prepared by the” in (a), inserted a serial comma after “sewer” in (o), changed “land-use” to “land use” throughout, and changed commas to semicolons at the end of (k)(1)–(8) pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(g). The Commission changed capitalization in the leading paragraph and (m) for the purpose of conformity pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(f).