The Dededo Municipal Planning Council voted this past week to back Core Tech Development’s request to rezone more property for a 60-megawatt solar farm in the Ukudu area of Dededo.
Approval came despite previous testimony from the Guam Waterworks Authority opposing the rezoning.
GWA and Core Tech are fighting in court over the ownership of the treatment plant land.
Core Tech wants to rezone the 58.7-acre property from mixed “R2” and “M1” zoning, for multi-family residential and light industrial use, to a full light industrial “M1” zone.
Land is located near the entrance to Tanguisson Beach, and next to GWA’s Northern District Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Dededo planning council members voted unanimously to back the zone change application on Thursday night.
Dededo Vice Mayor Ann San Agustin said commissioners received a presentation on the proposed rezoning back in October.
There was little discussion before San Agustin called for the vote.
Core Tech still needs to take the application to the Guam Land Use Commission for final approval of the rezone.
Land use commissioners last year approved two other solar farm-related rezoning for Core Tech, for a pair of properties totaling 36.6 acres along the Tanguisson cliff line.
Those properties are next door to the parcel now up for rezoning consideration.
If the GLUC gives the green light, Core Tech will have about 95.3 acres zoned for the 60 MW solar farm.
The Public Utilities Commission in November approved Core Tech’s deal with the Guam Power Authority for the facility.
Core Tech will generate power, and GPA will buy it at an estimated average cost of $21.9 million per year. The electricity will then be sold to GPA customers.
Project representative Marvin Aguilar in October told Dededo council members that the solar facility will come with a battery energy storage system, according to a recording of the meeting.
GPA is requiring battery storage for new solar facilities so that energy generated during daylight hours can be saved and used during the evening, when customer demand is highest.
In that same October meeting, GWA submitted testimony indicating it could not support the zone change.
“GWA does not acknowledge or accept the property ownership documentation as submitted. Lot 10184-6, listed as being owned by Core Tech, is the subject of an active lawsuit in the Guam Superior Court,” testimony read by GWA representative Bobby Cruz said.
GWA has been challenging Core Tech’s ownership of a portion of the lot now being eyed for a rezoning, Cruz said.
Boundaries between the solar farm lot, and the lot that the Northern District Wastewater Treatment Plant is on, did not align with government or GWA land records, Cruz said.
GWA disputed maps provided by Core Tech for the zone change application, and the lot in question contained active sewer and water infrastructure, including a 42-inch water main.
Cruz said GWA would not consent to the rezone while the case is unresolved.
Aguilar, speaking at the October meeting, told planning council members that the rezoning was about land use, not ownership.
He said Core Tech needed the rezone to proceed with financing for the project, and had coordinated with GWA.
“With respect to your actions, again, it’s about rezoning the property, whoever may own it,” he said.
“There is a dispute of ownership, but the government…recognizes that ownership at this point, until it’s litigated in court, the map still is sanctioned and approved and signed,” he said.
Discussion between council members at the October meeting indicated they wanted to speak to legal counsel about the matter.
But when they came back on Thursday, commissioners voted unanimously to support the application.
The Supreme Court of Guam in January 2025 agreed to hear an appeal from GWA on several key issues in the Core Tech land dispute.
As of this week, no opinion has been issued.
GovGuam and now GWA have sued to revoke certificates of title owned by Core Tech, arguing property title was wrongfully transferred by Ancestral Lands back in 2006.
Core Tech has countersued, seeking $220 million in damages and rent from GWA.
GWA has indicated that water bills for residential customers could more than double if a judge rules they must pay that sum.
When the Core Tech solar deal was being considered by the Consolidated Commission on Utilities back in August of 2024, GPA General Manager Benavente told the Pacific Daily News that the solar farm would be built on a separate parcel of land than the one now subject to litigation by GWA.
At the time, GPA legal counsel Marianne Woloschuk told CCU commissioners that the solar project award and the GWA lawsuit were handled separately.
