The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of the Canary Islands Government against the 2007 ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) which annulled the authorization of works granted to the César Manrique Foundation (FCM) for the Casa de las Cúpulas workshop, a building located next to the FCM headquarters in Tahíche.
At the time, the Foundation waived its right to appeal that ruling, but the regional Executive did. Now, in the face of this new ruling, the FCM's spokesman, Alfredo Díaz, points out that the Canary Islands Government should be the one to give explanations and that "if it cannot be legalized, it should be demolished urgently".
"What we are not going to do is ask for the municipal planning or the Island Plan to be changed or for special rules to be created, or issue legal reports for the TSJC to take them into account," says Díaz, referring to the steps the Cabildo is taking to regularize illegal hotels, the execution of whose sentence has been requested by the Foundation.
Díaz points out that "the law is the same for everyone" and that "if Cho Vito was demolished and the Casa de las Cúpulas is demolished, the same should be done with the hotels that do not comply with the law". He asks the Administration "not to look the other way and face this problem and points out that "if anyone thinks that with these pressures we are going to change stamps, they are wrong".
Chronology
In June 1999, the General Directorate of Urban Planning of the Canary Islands authorized the adaptation of this building, built on volcanic lava on rustic land, as a dwelling, workshop and exhibition space. The FCM intended to carry out its 'Artists in Residence' project in this space, which consisted of inviting artists to work in the workshop and later hold an exhibition at the FCM on their vision of the Island.
The advisor of the Party of Independents of Lanzarote (PIL), Manuel Nicolás González, appealed this permit and in 2006 the TSJC agreed with him, annulling it. The FCM decided not to appeal the ruling and also offered to donate the Casa de las Cúpulas to the Cabildo, although this proposal was rejected.
In the ruling annulling the authorization, the Court points out that "the mandatory reports were requested and issued in relation to an action on rustic land other than that for which authorization had been requested, which in turn caused the authorization granted by the resolution appealed here to be completely inconsistent with what was requested".
According to the TSJC, "the entire procedure from the first technical report of the General Directorate itself, which already referred to the adaptation of housing to a workshop house and exhibition space and not to the construction of a workshop adjacent to said housing, departed from the rules or rules of procedure, or, more correctly, that no procedure was followed to determine the origin of the authorization of the specific project object of the authorization request".
At that time, the FCM pointed out that "the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands places all responsibility on the incorrect action of the Autonomous Administration" and that the FCM "took the correct steps, carried out the appropriate procedures and presented the preliminary project required to request the authorization to build a workshop for artistic practices".
Saúl García / ACN Press
