The partial demolition project of the Son Bou hotel presented by Juan Francisco Rosa "does not comply" with what was ordered by the Yaiza City Council or with the General Plan of the municipality. This has been confirmed this Tuesday by the mayor, Gladys Acuña, a week after this project was registered in the Consistory. Now, the City Council is studying the steps to follow and may have to execute the demolition in a subsidiary way, if the property does not take charge of it in the terms required to comply with the judicial sentence that declared that hotel illegal.
"What is proposed is to demolish much less than what should be demolished and therefore it does not comply", Acuña explained on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero. Although she has not gone into precise details about the project presented by the property, because she says that she still does not have a written report, she has made it clear that it does not conform to the mandate given by the City Council. It was on January 22 when the Governing Board approved ordering the total or partial demolition of the hotel, because it triples the permitted buildability.
Now, according to what the mayor has announced, this same week they will adopt a decision "to continue with the initial demolition resolution." And if the property does not execute it, the City Council will. "Having a firm judicial sentence and the execution phase being open, if the interested party does not do it, then the City Council will have to do it through subsidiary execution", Acuña insisted, stating that they still have doubts about the procedure to follow because "it has never been done."
"Subsidiary execution procedures have been carried out, for example, in the partial plan," she specified, referring to works that corresponded to the promoters, such as street lighting or the payment of electricity, which had not been executed and had to be undertaken by the City Council. "But in the case of a hotel installation, it is the first case that would occur to us and hopefully we do not have to get to that," said the mayor, who appeals to the businessman to "do what he has to do." Otherwise, she warns that the Corporation will have to intervene, "because it may be more pleasant or more unpleasant, but it is certainly what is appropriate."
"The Cabildo is the one that has the power to close it"
Regarding the possibility of taking immediate measures, ordering the sealing of the Son Bou, Acuña wanted to make it clear that the City Council "has no power over the activity of a hotel." Thus, she has pointed directly to the Cabildo, which is the one that would correspond to adopt a measure of that type. "The City Council sends the resolution it has adopted to the Cabildo and the Cabildo is the one that has the power to keep the establishment open or closed", she specified.
"Let it be very clear, I have already had serious problems with the activities," the mayor insisted. She was referring to what happened with the Stratvs winery, also owned by Juan Francisco Rosa. And it is that Acuña is accused in this procedure not only by action, but also by omission, for not having ordered the sealing of the winery, which in this case did depend on the Consistory, after having knowledge of the illegalities.
Although Acuña has not commented on whether it would be necessary or not for the Cabildo to order that sealing, she has made it clear that at some point the hotel will have to be closed. "With people inside, it will not be possible to demolish, that is obvious", she pointed out, referring to the possibility that the City Council will finally have to carry out the demolition.
Untimely and inadmissible challenge
The mayor has also referred to the announcement made by the property in some media, that it had challenged the General Plan of Yaiza after the demolition order was known. "Let's see, this challenge is filed out of time. To appeal the General Plan there were some times", the mayor replied, recalling that this Plan was approved in July 2014 and has been in force since December of that year.
Since then, a period of two months was opened to challenge and appeal it. "You can now tell me that you don't like it, that you don't agree with it, but an appeal is no longer possible. Right now it would be inadmissible because it is untimely", she stressed. What she has clarified is that the appeal that the property presented in its day in the Courts against the Plan remains open.
Along with Rosa's, the mayor has specified that there are more than 20 judicial appeals against the General Plan of Yaiza. "Almost all the businessmen in the south appealed it", Acuña explained.
The Princesa Yaiza and the rest of the hotels, pending reports
Regarding the rest of the illegal hotels that are pending a decision by the City Council, Acuña has stated that they do not yet have the reports ready to see if they can be legalized or not. In the case of Juan Francisco Rosa's other hotel, the Princesa Yaiza, the mayor has once again pointed out that they are continuing to carry out "the measurement" to see if it conforms to the General Plan or not and if it can obtain a new license.
"We hope that next week we can take some to the Governing Board", she said in reference to all those that are still pending diagnosis. "Some in positive and others in negative. Because we only talk about the negative, but there is also positive", she stressed, without wanting to go into details yet.
