A Hotel With a View
In Spain, to construct a house, you have to buy the necessary land, pay for the appropriate municipal and regional licenses and present blueprints to all and sundry for approbation. It takes time and money and patience. Sometimes, even after going through all the trouble and expense, some homeowners have to end up in the street because their homes are declared illegal for minimal reasons. The law is the law, and their house comes down.
Of course, if you're trying to build a mega-hotel on the beach, it's different. Mayors will go out of their way to help you get all the necessary permits and licenses. Banks will loan you money with practically no interest to buy the necessary land and build as big as you want. You will have no problem whatsoever in this democratic country where private enterprise is encouraged.
However, if you try to build your mega-hotel on protected land, be careful. Though there might be powerful people helping you, if the environmental protection groups opposing you are powerful enough, you just might have to desist. Even after thirteen years. Four kilometers north of Carboneras, Almería, is a wild section of land where the mountains meet the sea. There lies the beach of Algarrobico. It lies within the Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata-Níjar, a protected area of land that reaches for kilometers along the coast and a few kilometers inland. The land is arid and volcanic in origin. It is one of the most arid areas in Europe. The entire province is pretty much arid. The famous spaghetti westerns, such as "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly" were shot in the interior of the province of Almería, in the Tabernas desert. At any rate, this shore is a protected area, safe from development since 1987 at least. Though that didn't matter much in 2003, during the building boom. That was when a company called Azata del Sol began building a macro hotel just fourteen meters from the beach of Algarrobico.
It's a story of laws, economics, and trumping the laws. It began back in the 1980's, when the local town of Carboneras (to which municipality the area of the beach belongs) zoned the area as being buildable. However, the central government redacted a law in 1987 declaring at least twenty meters inland from the point of highest tide to be left fallow all along the national coast. No one could build anything within those twenty meters without special permission. Then, during the 1990's, laws came and went. The Park was created, though at first the beach area was not included. However, a regional law was passed in Andalucía (region to which the province of Almería belongs) in 1994 declaring certain public spaces, including the area of Algarrobico as "no urbanizable", nothing could be built there. But the mayor of Carboneras seemed to have powerful friends. In 1997 an addendum to the law changed the zoning of the beach area to "urbanizable" and left the way clear for the company Azata del Sol to buy up a large chunk of property to later build the hotel upon.
The main reason for the illegal addendum (It's illegal because proper procedure was not followed and the proposed addendum never came up for debate nor was published for any possible objections raised to be looked into.) was economical. Carboneras is a small, coastal town with little more industry than fishing and tourism. The hotel would have brought many low-skilled jobs to the area. So, in 2001 the company applies for the necessary licenses and permits, both to the regional government, and the local town. In 2003 they're definitively granted and construction begins. Just fourteen meters in from the shore a huge pyramidal construction takes shape. It's an enormous structure, twenty stories high and with over four hundred rooms. In pictures, it sticks out like a turnip jabbed into a chocolate mousse. Totally out of place. In 2005 the national law changed and from twenty fallow meters, it was amplified to one hundred meters left fallow from the highest line of high tide inland. Being built just fourteen meters from that line, the hotel was already infringing the law. Now, it was almost all illegal. The central government begins motions to expropriate the land the hotel is being built on, and in 2006 the construction is ordered to halt. From then till now lawsuits have flown back and forth. The Park was amplified to include the beach of Algarrobico, further complicating things, because zoning laws are very strict within natural parks and don't generally include macro hotels. Greenpeace got involved, demanding the half-finished construction be demolished. Last year, the regional Supreme Court declared the construction legal. The case was taken to the highest court, the Spanish Supreme Court, which just declared this week that the building is illegal and must be demolished. It's the last sentence; there is no possibility of appeal.
The people of Carboneras, however, are upset. Their one chance of finding a local job has disappeared. I can understand their plight. But instead of trying to install a hotel on land that cannot be built upon, surely the mayor could get together with the mayors of other local towns and find a solution by creating an industrial park and tout it to businesses who are looking to grow. Both skilled and unskilled jobs would be created. There's more than one way to skin a cat.
Of course, if you're trying to build a mega-hotel on the beach, it's different. Mayors will go out of their way to help you get all the necessary permits and licenses. Banks will loan you money with practically no interest to buy the necessary land and build as big as you want. You will have no problem whatsoever in this democratic country where private enterprise is encouraged.
However, if you try to build your mega-hotel on protected land, be careful. Though there might be powerful people helping you, if the environmental protection groups opposing you are powerful enough, you just might have to desist. Even after thirteen years. Four kilometers north of Carboneras, Almería, is a wild section of land where the mountains meet the sea. There lies the beach of Algarrobico. It lies within the Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata-Níjar, a protected area of land that reaches for kilometers along the coast and a few kilometers inland. The land is arid and volcanic in origin. It is one of the most arid areas in Europe. The entire province is pretty much arid. The famous spaghetti westerns, such as "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly" were shot in the interior of the province of Almería, in the Tabernas desert. At any rate, this shore is a protected area, safe from development since 1987 at least. Though that didn't matter much in 2003, during the building boom. That was when a company called Azata del Sol began building a macro hotel just fourteen meters from the beach of Algarrobico.
It's a story of laws, economics, and trumping the laws. It began back in the 1980's, when the local town of Carboneras (to which municipality the area of the beach belongs) zoned the area as being buildable. However, the central government redacted a law in 1987 declaring at least twenty meters inland from the point of highest tide to be left fallow all along the national coast. No one could build anything within those twenty meters without special permission. Then, during the 1990's, laws came and went. The Park was created, though at first the beach area was not included. However, a regional law was passed in Andalucía (region to which the province of Almería belongs) in 1994 declaring certain public spaces, including the area of Algarrobico as "no urbanizable", nothing could be built there. But the mayor of Carboneras seemed to have powerful friends. In 1997 an addendum to the law changed the zoning of the beach area to "urbanizable" and left the way clear for the company Azata del Sol to buy up a large chunk of property to later build the hotel upon.
The main reason for the illegal addendum (It's illegal because proper procedure was not followed and the proposed addendum never came up for debate nor was published for any possible objections raised to be looked into.) was economical. Carboneras is a small, coastal town with little more industry than fishing and tourism. The hotel would have brought many low-skilled jobs to the area. So, in 2001 the company applies for the necessary licenses and permits, both to the regional government, and the local town. In 2003 they're definitively granted and construction begins. Just fourteen meters in from the shore a huge pyramidal construction takes shape. It's an enormous structure, twenty stories high and with over four hundred rooms. In pictures, it sticks out like a turnip jabbed into a chocolate mousse. Totally out of place. In 2005 the national law changed and from twenty fallow meters, it was amplified to one hundred meters left fallow from the highest line of high tide inland. Being built just fourteen meters from that line, the hotel was already infringing the law. Now, it was almost all illegal. The central government begins motions to expropriate the land the hotel is being built on, and in 2006 the construction is ordered to halt. From then till now lawsuits have flown back and forth. The Park was amplified to include the beach of Algarrobico, further complicating things, because zoning laws are very strict within natural parks and don't generally include macro hotels. Greenpeace got involved, demanding the half-finished construction be demolished. Last year, the regional Supreme Court declared the construction legal. The case was taken to the highest court, the Spanish Supreme Court, which just declared this week that the building is illegal and must be demolished. It's the last sentence; there is no possibility of appeal.
The people of Carboneras, however, are upset. Their one chance of finding a local job has disappeared. I can understand their plight. But instead of trying to install a hotel on land that cannot be built upon, surely the mayor could get together with the mayors of other local towns and find a solution by creating an industrial park and tout it to businesses who are looking to grow. Both skilled and unskilled jobs would be created. There's more than one way to skin a cat.
Comments
Post a Comment