The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal for review of the judgment filed by the entity Isla del Paraíso 2000 SL, owner of a hotel in Playa Blanca, located next to Montaña Roja, to invalidate a 2007 ruling that annulled its construction license along with another twenty tourist establishments in this town.
The César Manrique Foundation promoted this judicial process at the time and was therefore summoned by the Supreme Court along with the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Public Prosecutor's Office to appear in the case.
The foundation requested the inadmissibility of the claim since it was filed outside the five-year period from when the ruling became final, as the company claimed that a new document had been found but without specifying the date.
The Prosecutor's Office made the same request due to the lack of standing of the owners as they had not been part of the judicial procedure, failure to comply with the deadlines, and considering that the alleged reason does not fit into this type of appeal.
The high court recalls that the ruling is final since 2007 and that therefore the five-year period set to be able to file an extraordinary appeal for review of the judgment has already been exceeded.
The entity, however, alleges that it became aware of it when in 2019 the Yaiza City Council forwarded a report in which it urged the execution of that judgment, but according to the Supreme Court, even taking this last date into account, the deadline would also have been exceeded.
The owners indicate that they were never properly summoned in the lawsuit and therefore could not participate in it, which would justify their lack of standing.
The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) annulled these hotel construction licenses in 2007, and then the execution process began.
The establishments had to present a project to benefit from the incentives included in the General Plan of Yaiza of 2014, and then the local corporation has been ruling on whether or not licenses could be granted in each case, according to the new project and legislation.
This process has been prolonged for a decade, and currently there are only four establishments that have not been able to obtain their legalization, including the hotel in question, whose regulation request was rejected by the local corporation on July 15, 2024.
The owners filed several judicial appeals to try to invalidate the 2007 judgment, such as an incident of nullity and now the review, both of which were dismissed.
The judgment obliges the owners to restore the altered physical reality to its original state by ordering the demolition of everything that cannot be legalized according to the General Plan.
The owners presented a proposal that involved changing the use of some bungalows and thus reducing the accommodation capacity by 32 places and occupying less space, which was also not accepted by the City Council.
The constructions that were not reflected in the original project were a closed lobby bar, three pergolas, a restaurant, and another room, all around the pool.
The same situation applies to a theater with a canvas structure, a climbing tower, a tennis court, a supermarket, a soccer field with stands, a miniclub, and a playground.
