A gym in Arrecife faces its fourth closure order due to neighbors' complaints

A gym in Arrecife faces its fourth closure order due to neighbors' complaints

The City Council has ordered its closure three times since 2014 and currently has another closure order, although the owners have appealed it. One of the owners claims there is "harassment" by the neighbors and the Police...

November 4 2015 (13:55 WET)
A gym in Arrecife faces its fourth closure file due to complaints from neighbors
A gym in Arrecife faces its fourth closure file due to complaints from neighbors

The residents of Mesana Street number 4 in Arrecife are engaged in a real battle to achieve the closure of a gym on their street. Since it opened its doors in March 2014, they have been complaining about the "unbearable noise" that the establishment allegedly produces. They have collected signatures, submitted letters to the City Council, and filed more than 30 complaints to request its closure, according to one of those letters. The City Council has ordered the closure of the premises on 3 occasions, although after "fulfilling everything that has been requested", the gym has been able to reopen its doors. The owner, although he says he "understands" the complaints, speaks of "harassment" by the neighbors and the Local Police.

Cross Fit Blind Crab began its activity in March 2014 at number 6 Mesana Street and, since then, the residents of number 4 have been complaining about the noise it generates and the schedules, as they claim it opens every day, including weekends and holidays. "They have the music blasting and the walls and ceiling are not soundproofed", denounces Jesús Pérez Castro, one of the neighbors who has filed several complaints with the Local Police. This neighbor emphasizes that "he can't take it anymore" and states that "there is no right to be at home and have to be listening to the noise all the time".

This 67-year-old man, who explains that he has undergone several operations for heart problems and is diabetic, partly attributes his health problems to the gym's disturbances and claims that the "jolts" of the noises harm him. According to him, he must have blood tests "three times a day" and takes up to "10 pills a day" for his heart problems. "They don't respect anything, not even the elderly, the sick, no matter how serious they are", he reproaches the owners of the premises.

Pérez Castro has filed multiple complaints, both individually and accompanied by the president and secretary of his neighborhood association. La Voz de Lanzarote has had access to four of these complaints, which highlight the "serious disturbances of noise and music coming from inside" the gym or that this place "does not respect the opening hours". In these complaints, the neighbors state that they have "tried to mediate" with those responsible and "have received rude responses such as 'put earplugs in' or 'go live in the countryside'".

Three closure orders and a breach of the seal


These complaints, according to the City Council, have caused the closure of the premises up to three times, "in June and October 2014 and in March 2015". They add that after a new complaint last September, the gym was ordered to close again, although the owners appealed that measure. Currently, there is an open file in the City Council and the owners must present all the documentation to prove that everything is in order.

"The owner appealed in a timely manner" and "is now presenting all the documentation", explain from the City Council, noting that until that file is resolved, no decision will be made on the closure. From the City Council they also add that the previous closures were carried out as a "precautionary measure until the file was finalized" and that if they have been allowed to reopen it is because they have "complied" with the requirements that were demanded of them.

However, the owners of the premises have not always respected the closure order, as they violated the penultimate sealing order of the Local Police. This is stated in a decree signed by the then Councilor for Infractions, Víctor Sanginés, dated March 3, in which the councilor ordered the "immediate sealing by the Local Police". According to the decree, the Local Police had sealed the activity on January 12 but, despite this, the agents signed two subsequent reports "stating that they continue to train inside, so they have skipped the seal, which may constitute a possible crime of disobedience".

According to the sealing report, in addition to the "neighborhood complaints", the gym was closed for "lacking municipal permits for opening and operation". The neighbors had referred to this fact in their complaints and in the writings presented to the City Council, in which they call the establishment "clandestine".

"The law does not oblige us to soundproof"


However, one of the owners of the gym, Eduardo Lafuente, denies this extreme and assures that in the City Council they "told" them that they could "start operating" even without having submitted all the documentation necessary to obtain the opening license. "Without having all those papers in order, they told us that we could start, pay those fees and start operating. Then all the problems started: that if this paper is not right, that an engineer is needed, the electricity bill...millions of things that we have been gradually getting, but it has cost us, well, that they closed the business three times", he explains.

The businessman does not deny the noises and assures that he understands the neighbors. "It is clear that we bother, I am not going to say no", he admits, although he emphasizes that they do not intend to soundproof the entire establishment. "Obviously we have not soundproofed because we are not a disco. Yes, the music bothers, but the law as a gym does not oblige you to soundproof the premises, apart from the fact that this would entail a fairly significant expense that we cannot afford". This owner affirms that, despite this, they have spent "a lot of money" to try to "reduce the noise as much as possible", putting for example "special flooring to reduce the noise of the hitting of the weights".

gimnasio blindcrab

What Lafuente does deny is that they have not complied with the opening hours. "We open in a working schedule from 8 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon, from 2 to 4 we close and from 4 to 10 at night. Outside of those hours we do not make noise. I think we are within a permissible working schedule".

Thus, this gym owner defends that there has been "harassment" by the neighbors and the Local Police, who he says come "almost every day" to ask them not to make so much noise. "I could also go as a victim to the media to complain about the harassment I have suffered from the neighbors with the complaints and everything. That has led to the City Council harassing me with the paperwork. I don't sleep, I don't live peacefully. I am scared that at any moment the Police or any paper from the City Council will come again to tell me that they are closing my business again", he maintains.

Faced with this situation, which he describes as "frustrating", he assures that "the only solution" they see is to leave the premises and look for another. "What I least want is to bother or have problems with the neighbors", he assures, so he affirms that they plan to look for a place that "does not bother anyone" and move "as soon as possible".

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