The plot of one of the illegal skeletons of Costa Teguise, whose construction was halted in 2005 by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, could end up housing a hotel of up to four floors, if the modification of the General Plan that the City Council has just initiated on plot 216 prospers.
The proposal came from the promoters and the mayor, Oswaldo Betancort, signed a decree on January 28 agreeing to initiate this file of “minor modification” of the Plan, which implies increasing the buildability, the number of beds and even the floors allowed on that plot.
Specifically, the proposal of the entity Grupo Hoteles Playa S. A., which has been processed by the Consistory, would mean increasing the permitted buildability by more than 52%, going from the 15,316 square meters currently assigned in the General Plan to 23,334. Regarding the beds, the plot admits a maximum of 328 and it is intended to expand them to 500, also changing the use from extra-hotel to hotel. And that would also allow the promoters to gain one more floor, who could currently only build three floors and with the hotel category could move to 4.
To justify these changes for the benefit of this hotel group - which in its day saw the work stopped due to its illegality - the mayor's decree indicates that it is intended to “transfer” urban rights from another plot of the same company, the 232 - in which the buildability and assigned beds would be reduced - in favor of plot 216.
Although this skeleton is one of those with a final judgment pending execution, the mayor's decree and the reports to which it refers do not mention this, despite the fact that in practice it could try to be a 'legalization' of that structure. However, the matter could end up being judicially reviewed again, because the Supreme Court has reiterated in several judgments that the planning cannot be modified with the aim of legalizing something illegal. And in the case of this skeleton, the building that it intended to house had no place either in the Plan that was then in force or in the current one, which was approved in 2014, and which is the one on which this modification is now intended to be made.
Conviction of the former mayor and reason for investigation in the Unión case
The initial license was granted in 1999 and later up to two extensions were approved by the former mayor, Juan Pedro Hernández, who was convicted of urban planning prevarication in one of the pieces of the Yate case, after confessing that he granted this and other permits knowing of its illegality.
The beneficiary in this case was the Andalusian businessman José María Rosell, who was later arrested in the Unión case as alleged front man for Dimas Martín, although those charges were eventually dropped. However, the investigation of that case did allow it to be known that Rosell “hired” Dimas to carry out procedures to obtain licenses in Costa Teguise. And all this while his party, the PIL, governed in the municipality under the Mayoralty of Juan Pedro Hernández, who later ended up in Coalición Canaria.
Only between 2001 and 2003, Dimas invoiced at least half a million euros through one of his companies for "management" services of licenses, and most of the payments were made by Rosell, owner of the Grupo Hoteles Playa and beneficiary of that permit granted by Juan Pedro Hernández for plot 216. When the former mayor authorized the extension of the license, not only did he not request the compatibility report from the Cabildo, but he also did not have a single municipal technical or legal report.
Apart from the criminal consequences it had for Hernández, the Justice also cautiously stopped the work and later declared the “radical nullity” of the license, as it was incompatible with the planning in force at that time. With the current Plan in force for seven years, that project also has no place, so it was destined for demolition. However, the skeleton has continued to stand, despite the fact that the sentence ordered the restoration of legality.
Along with this one, other skeletons of Costa Teguise are still awaiting the execution of the sentences. In one of them, the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands warned the mayor a few weeks ago with personal fines and even with criminal actions if he continued without complying with the ruling.
