The Yaiza City Council has responded to the press release issued by the Cabildo in which it stated that "the report approved by the Governing Council warns the property of said hotel that the provisional tourist authorization is subject to obtaining the corresponding municipal urban planning license, as well as the mandatory authorization from Coasts."
The Consistory clarifies that "Law 2/2013, of May 29, on Renovation and Tourist Modernization of the Canary Islands, in its Article 4, section 1, states that, in general, the implementation of new tourist accommodation in the case of transferring accommodation capacity in the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife, is expressly subject to prior authorization by the respective island councils.
Therefore, they say from the City Council that "in the event that the reference accommodation complex complies with the parameters of the current General Plan, an urban planning license cannot be granted without the prior tourist authorization of the First Island Corporation, Institution that titles the same informative note saying that the Cabildo complies with the TSJC ruling and initiates the file for provisional tourist authorization of the hotel known as Papagayo Arena, therefore it communicates that it has only initiated the file and therefore has not resolved it."
But also, and it is not a minor issue, as the public is well aware, on July 2, 2024, the General Director of Coast and Sea, by delegation of the Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, issued a Ministerial Order rectifying the demarcation of public maritime-terrestrial domain assets, establishing that the protection easement in Playa Blanca, and in the vicinity of the reference project, is 100 meters and not 20 meters.
The City Council adds that "the Cabildo then requested a new technical compatibility report from Yaiza on August 7, where the local Administration verifies and exposes the affectation of the hotel plot by the rectification of the demarcation by Coasts. The City Council warns that it must respect the uses and comply with the determinations of the regulations, so in addition to the tourist authorization from the Cabildo, it needs the approval of Coasts, so as long as it does not have both authorizations, it will not be able to issue any resolution on the hotel legalization project. Yaiza awaits the mandatory reports and also does not know if the Cabildo's authorization will be conditioned or not."
The City Council explains that "not expressly for the Papagayo Arena hotel, but for the wide strip of affectation in the municipal territory, it will appeal the new demarcation of Coasts, and it is aware that individuals will also do so, however, for the moment, it does not know if the Cabildo will proceed in the same way."
Finally, the City Council reiterates "its absolute willingness to cooperate with Justice and recalls once again that the legalization file for this hotel and all complexes with annulled licenses is supervised by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands." In any case, "the City Council has always ensured throughout the process that the legalization project of the Papagayo Arena corrects the occupation of the public pedestrian roads of access to the coast to then carry out the analysis of compliance with the urban planning parameters of buildability, occupation, setbacks, and heights," he concludes.
