The spokesperson for the platform of those affected by the Coasts Law and lawyer for several residents of El Golfo (Yaiza), José Ortega, assures that the central government maintains the 14 homes and restaurants that are within the public maritime-terrestrial domain in a "legal limbo", since it does not order the demolition nor legalize the situation through an administrative concession.
Recently, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the Yaiza City Council, defended by Felipe Fernández Camero, and validated the maritime-terrestrial demarcation approved by the Government in 2006. With this ruling, it becomes practically impossible, according to Ortega, for the appeals that remain to be resolved to have a different outcome.
According to the demarcation, 14 properties are within the public maritime-terrestrial domain (all those between the road and the coast), so the property becomes the State's, but it can grant a concession, which was requested in January 2007 and has not yet been resolved. The rest of the affected buildings, within the maritime-terrestrial easement zone, "will not be demolished in any way", according to Ortega.
This lawyer points out that these 14 properties, in a situation of "legal limbo", are being sanctioned for carrying out any type of work, no matter how necessary it may be. He points out that if Coasts granted the concession, this situation would end and they could continue carrying out the activity they currently carry out, either as a restaurant or as a residence.
Criticism of the administration
According to Ortega, there are several keys that explain how this situation has been reached. On the one hand, he points out that the City Council, especially at the beginning, when José Francisco Reyes was mayor, "followed the procedure in an environment of rivalry and not of cooperation with the residents". On the other hand, he criticizes the attitude of the Minister of Territorial Policy of the Government of the Canary Islands, because instead of making a report to contribute to the procedure and determine that two thirds of the population center were urban before 1988, he made an administrative resolution, giving Coasts the opportunity to appeal it, and it was annulled, anticipating the ruling against the residents. "Berriel wanted to resolve things on his own and in his own way," he says, and criticizes that he did not make it easier for the residents to present themselves as co-defendants in that procedure.
Regarding Coasts, Ortega points out that, to determine the demarcation, it did not present any evidence, only an aerial photo in which it cannot be distinguished whether the materials are of marine or terrestrial origin (which determines how far the tide can reach and therefore the demarcation), while the residents spent 15,000 euros on a study that explains the characteristics of the coast of El Golfo, and which has not been validated by the courts.
ACN Press