We are currently witnessing the debate on the initial approval of the general plan of Arrecife and it should not be forgotten, due to what this entails, that it was initially approved in the past term.
Within this framework, I believe without any doubt that the future of our City involves updating its regulations to circumstances that have changed considerably in recent years, especially if we take into account that the needs of a city that already exceeds 60,000 inhabitants have nothing to do with that city that began its regulatory journey 25 years ago. Therefore, the socialist party has the responsibility, as it holds the Mayor's Office of Arrecife, to conclude this Document that has been worked on for the last four years. Years that have seen countless meetings with citizens, groups, associations, political parties, who today are still waiting for answers to the allegations they presented in their day, not to mention those of the Socialist Party itself. Everyone deserves, we deserve to know, what part of our demands has been taken into account, and what part has been rejected.
We must not forget the different urban lawsuits, lawsuits over land expropriated years ago that could endanger the economic future of the town hall itself. Land for which significant amounts of money are already being paid to owners who saw it occupied for various reasons, by the administration, and when I say reasons, I mean the construction of squares, courts or other important facilities for our municipality.
It is true that many have been won, thus demonstrating the position of the Consistory, as it is also true that this has been possible thanks to the strong decision to choose the best people at all times to defend the Municipal interests, even if that made us the target of unfounded accusations and criticisms. Even so, there are currently many others pending judicial resolution, and this leads us to the reality that pieces of land as important as the Ginory site, the Islote del Frances or the land on the Vía Medular itself are pieces of privately owned land that the administration has no possibility of acquiring. Without going any further, and to get an idea, we only have to think about the Ginory land, which already has a firm fair price that gives it a value of 25 million euros, an unaffordable price for a Town Hall like Arrecife. We cannot deceive ourselves, in a state of law like the one in which we live, perhaps negotiation with its owners is the only way out, always taking into account that there are only two ways, expropriation or negotiation via agreements, there is no more.
And let's talk about another issue, being another of the reasons that pushes for the approval of the Plan, such as the efforts that have been made to provide solutions to a large part of the settlements of Güime and Las Vírgenes in Argana Alta, which involves the modification, also via the island Plan, of the land classification. These areas will have to go from landscape protection to territorial protection that allows the consolidation of what has been built as long as it does not have any sanctioning file by the Environmental Protection Agency (Apmun), or in the case that it exists, under the formula of rural settlement.
Another reason that supports the Plan is the need for Arrecife to finally have an orderly industrial partial plan such as the one in Tenorio. Firstly, so that the Town Hall obtains land in it and secondly so that investments in our city can continue to occur. And I say this because it is obvious to everyone that there are very important investments pending in our Municipality that, due to the paralysis of the document, may end up moving to other nearby municipalities, which do have their industrial estates consolidated.
I cannot fail to refer to the protected historical buildings of Arrecife that require a Catalogue that makes their maintenance viable. Only by protecting what really still retains values of our architecture, as well as allowing changes of use or height extensions in cases where possible, would we achieve what already exists in other Canary Cities, perfectly preserved buildings used as businesses that contribute to beautify and give life to the areas they occupy.
In short, it is time to be serious and not distort reality, it is time to make it clear that the initial approval of this General Plan would open the way to a new public exhibition of the document and with it the possibility of presenting allegations to it if it were deemed necessary.
In conclusion, Arrecife urgently requires the vision of all political parties. Our Municipality and its residents require answers to the different problems they are currently suffering. Contribute to add and improve, contribute to our City continuing to move forward, Arrecife deserves it.
*José Montelongo Espinosa, former mayor of Arrecife
