
The new Parque San Francisco is destined to always be a project since it has been trying, without success, to become a reality for 14 years.
Now, the Risk Study (which also includes the geotechnical one) on the future excavations that have to be done on the site before starting its construction warns of the danger of affections (possible collapses) in the church of San Francisco, “because the vibrations of the machinery exceed the allowed threshold even with the proposed corrective measures and this could lead either to a temporary or permanent stoppage of the excavation with the consequent patrimonial and economic damages that it entails “, assures the Councilor for Sustainable City and Planning and spokesman for the Municipal government, David Hernández.
The church, attached to the site where the new park will be built, was classified as a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC) with the category of monument by the Government of the Canary Islands in May 2013. The mayor, Marco González, assured in an interview with this newspaper that “I was not going to put a BIC like the hermitage of San Francisco at risk.”
The conclusions of this document, commissioned by the Tourist Rehabilitation Consortium to the company Terragua Ingenieros, were sent to the Heritage area of the Cabildo de Tenerife and to the Bishopric, owner of the property.
By virtue of it, the Consortium asked the City Council for approval to request an extension to the adjoining public buildings, such as Victor Pérez Square, the 30-dwelling building located on the side of the church and San Juan street itself. Its duration cannot be estimated.
Thus, in the Planning Commission held yesterday, it was decided to convene a monographic meeting with opposition groups to present the report and work on future decisions. However, the councilor prefers, for now, not to talk about other possible scenarios but to “make sure of the risk that is run and that it can be controlled.”
With this project, the General Planning Plan (PGO) of the municipality requires a preliminary study of the block in which the property will be built, which should have been carried out before calling the ideas competition. “There is a series of analyzes that were not done before taking this step, which should have been the last, with which we are trying to sort out what was not on the right track and protect, the project itself, the heritage, the people and also the public money, to avoid that there are serious inconveniences in the middle of the work ”, declares the mayor.