Lanzarote was the stretch of coast with the most illegal hotels in Spain. The small coastal town of Playa Blanca came to concentrate up to twenty hotel establishments that were built outside the law and in the middle of a tourist moratorium. Most were able to legalize their situation, but at least three hotels in the south of the island have remained open to the public despite court rulings that have annulled their licenses and court requirements to restore "urban legality" to the place.
One of them is the Hotel Son Bou, located in the heart of the tourist area of Playa Blanca and in front of the also illegal luxury hotel Princesa Yaiza. Both are owned by businessman Juan Francisco Rosa, both are illegal and are even connected underground by a tunnel.
The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, spoke this Friday on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero and announced that "given the passivity of the developer" of the Son Bou hotel and after requiring "on numerous occasions" that he present a demolition project, the council "has no choice" but to "face or focus on the subsidiary execution".
The license to build the Son Bou, as a three-star establishment on the Costa Papagayo Partial Plan, was granted in 1998 by the former mayor of Yaiza, Juan Francisco Reyes. However, the court ruling in the Yate case annulled this and other licenses that Reyes granted to developers "irregularly". The southern representative pointed out in the morning show Buenos días, Lanzarote that "the developer did it wrong in the beginning and on top of that does not assume his responsibilities".
Noda pointed out that so far, the developer has presented "initiatives that do not make sense" nor "any kind of fit". For this reason, the southern City Council will have to pay more than two million euros from funds "of the residents of the municipality" if the property finally does not give in to carrying out the demolition.
To carry out this partial demolition, the Yaiza City Council has hired a lawyer specializing in Urban Planning and Demolitions. From there, he presented an incident in court, "through an external technical study that was very thorough".
The City Council has presented an initiative where it has been adapted to "comply with current planning". The Court has given its approval and now, according to the southern representative, the parties have 60 days to present allegations, appeals or contributions in this regard.
"If he does not present a demolition project and an execution project based on this initiative or another" in the estimated period, the City Council would take care of its drafting, put it out to tender and, once they have the project, "the property will be given a last chance" "to execute it" and if not, the City Council would take charge of its subsidiary execution.
"We are willing, I say that even if it means sacrificing money from the neighbors, but we are willing to assume the demolition and finally put an end to this issue," the mayor concluded.
The technical report presented by the Yaiza City Council to restore legality to this space states that the plans provided by the property "do not correspond to the physical reality of the property verified in the visit", according to documentation to which Canarias Ahora had access.
Currently, this hotel building has 55 rooms, a swimming pool, solarium, gym, changing rooms, common and private areas for employees. In addition, it has three floors above the road and two below ground. According to this same information, the Son Bou doubles the permitted capacity, with 220 places compared to the 111 established by law.
Among other points, the proposal states that on the minus one floor the area currently used for common areas for clients must be reduced to an 83 square meter lounge, so that the basement is considered as such, part of its facade must be buried and the roof must be less than 70 centimeters above the ground or ground level, so the area of the solarium around the pool would be reduced.
Meanwhile, the rooms used for the gym and changing rooms "must be converted into internal service rooms of the hotel". What the proposal maintains is the minus two floor and the tunnel that connects the establishment with the Princesa Yaiza.
It also contemplates that the second floor of the establishment be eliminated and that the hotel floors be reduced by half, to 111.
