Santa Cruz approved yesterday, Friday, in the municipal plenary session, the provisional ordinance that adapts the regime of uses of the current General Planning Plan (PGO), which is from the year 2005, to facilitate the implementation of city-hotels and commercial areas of up to 2,500 square meters, taking into account that, at the moment, only those of 750 square meters are allowed.
“It is an important ordinance”, said the Councilor for Urban Planning, Carlos Tarife, “that will benefit the tourism sector and the commercial sector, which will generate many economic opportunities, and which will allow it to compete on equal terms with the rest of the municipalities in the Islands”.
The opposition groups expressed their rejection for the absence, in this ordinance, of an environmental assessment report. Ciudadanos, PSOE and Podemos stressed that this same matter had caused the fall, at the time, of the General Planning Plan of 2013, and that it was necessary to act “under the principle of prudence” so that the process was not prosecuted.
They therefore asked for “reflection” for an ordinance, they assured “it has no public and social interest”, and that “it has a direct impact on the price of land”.
Mayor Carlos Tarife responded by assuring that he is not afraid to make political decisions. “If it goes against the ordinance, the Planning Department has all the legal and technical tools to defend and justify it. The technical reports support it”, stressed the popular councilor.
