Source: http://www.journalcr.com
Posted by Roger Vlasos
Broker/Owner
Century21 At the Beach
Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Website: http://www.century21incostarica.com
Email: roger@century21incostarica.com
(Infocom) — The Executive Branch signed a decree seeking to regulate construction in Guanacaste’s costal areas. The measure was taken not only to establish guidelines for projects in the region, but also to mitigate environmental impacts such as the ones highlighted by recent cases of wastewater contamination from hotels and businesses.
Just last April 7, the Ministry of Health ordered Ecodesarrollo Papagayo (the company in charge of the Peninsula Papagayo project) to halt effluence of residual waters onto the beach from the Four Seasons Hotel, although such wastewater didn’t present any pollution levels.
The new environmental and construction regulations were okayed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, together with the ministers of the Presidency, Rodrigo Arias; Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides; Housing, Fernando Zumbado; Competitiveness, Jorge Woodbridge; and the Environment, Roberto Dobles. The decree they signed was drafted in consultation with the Chamber of Construction, the Federated Engineers and Architects Association (CFIA), and the Real Estate Development Council (CODI).
“It’s everybody’s responsibility — the government’s, the municipalities’, the private sector’s — to respect the landscape and the natural resources that surround us. Social corporate responsibility is more a vision and a sincere commitment than an obligation per se. It has to do with the capacity of companies to look beyond their own walls and profits, because today, more than ever, a company’s success depends on the success of the society in which it works; and this is particularly true of the tourism industry,” President Arias said.
The decree seeks to establish guidelines that would allow for priority solutions to the region’s problems, as well as increase production, tourism, educational and environmental capabilities through sustainable development — reinforcing regional institutional infrastructure and ensuring compliance with existing environmental laws.
This piece of legislation also takes into consideration population policies and soil needs in each canton, incorporating the tourism variable as an activity integrated into the rest of the local economy, which would require the development of management tools for implementation, financing and oversight of urban planning.
“Through this first step in the road of urban organization, what we are attempting to do is to create a series of measures for protecting human development, the landscape, soil and flora, as well as cultural heritage, all of which would allow Costa Rica to have a sustainable development in the social, economic and environmental. Such development requires a joint effort between the government and the public sector,” Woodbridge said.
According to Benavides, the executive decree will be applied in the absence of a regulatory plan or specific development plans in Guanacaste cantons. Regulated areas include private properties legally registered that are within the Land Maritime Zone (ZMT, a regulated portion of land adjacent to the beach).
“This legislation is very important because it allows us to make sure that constructions located within the Land Maritime Zone, and which are properly registered in the National Registry, will not affect the natural landscape of the region and the rich resources surrounding said properties, as they will be complying with requirements set forth by our sustainable development policies. Buildings in special protection areas will continue to be regulated by current legislation,” Benavides said.
The decree establishes specific parameters for coverage, height and density of real estate developments by coming up with four zoning areas: the public zone (first 50 meters of beach); the restricted zone (up to 150 meters from the ocean); the intermediate zone (800 meters beyond the restricted zone); and the internal zone (up to 3 kilometers past the intermediate zone).
This means that, for example, in private properties located within the restricted zone, buildings won’t be allowed to exceed 16 meters in height (approximately three stories); while in the intermediate zone the maximum height will be 24 meters, or roughly five stories; and in the internal zone, buildings can be up to 36 meters high, or approximately eight stories.
Meanwhile, Zumbado spoke about the importance of signing this decree by pointing out that “it is essential to set clear rules for the development of regions with high tourism potential in the country, trying not to create conditions that would exclude families native to the area, for whom it’s necessary to generate sustainable ways of earning a living, including housing that meets their needs.”
The government is intending this decree to last for the next four years and even until Guanacaste municipalities approve their own regulatory plan, or the Chorotega Region Urban Plan that will be drafted by the National Housing and Urban Development Institute (INVU).
