Demolish it and return the land to the central government, limit it to a catering establishment, or recover the campsite with the same original use, with booths, camping areas, bathrooms, barbecue, bar and cafeteria, restoration of walls and stairs, and revegetation in some areas to make stays more pleasant.
These are the three alternatives proposed by the Special Plan for the Protected Landscape of Costa Acentejo to rescue the campsite from abandonment table of the sea, in Tacoronte, closed more than a decade ago. All start from the joint work of the Cabildo with the City Council, civil society and the insular area of Natural Environment Management.
The document, published on December 27 in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC), is in public information until the end of the month.
It is a kind of diagnosis with proposals to order the area, which is submitted to the public consideration of the affected administrations, and based on their assessments and those of the public, a specific one or the result of a combination of several will be chosen. to be approved. Another procedure that will have a public information period of 45 days.
The facilities are located in the vicinity of La Arena beach, one of the most attractive and important nuclei for the recreational use and enjoyment of the Costa de Acentejo, “because if a morphological and geographical assessment of the protected landscape of the place is made, almost all of it -between 60% and 70%- is steep and this is one of the most accessible areas”, explains the insular director of Heritage, Emilio Fariña.
The site that housed the old campsite and the restaurant associated with it has an area of 5,400 square meters and is municipal property. Years ago it had six wooden cabins, each with a capacity for three people, and also had an area for camping with a maximum capacity for about 25 tents. In addition, there was a bathroom and changing room area, a barbecue and a bowling area. Its management and exploitation was carried out by concession.
Its access is made through the promenade, executed by the General Directorate of Coasts, which serves the beach and is in a good state of conservation, although the slopes are partially meshed as a result of the landslides that forced the closure of the campsite and the beach in September 2014.
Once access was restored, the concessionaire “initiated a lawsuit against the City Council that later became a property claim and did not end with the best results,” recalls the mayor, José Daniel Díaz.
Since then, the facilities have been abandoned, full of graffiti both inside and out, with broken glass and enclosures, and damage to the structure and surroundings, neglected and full of weeds, except for a dragon tree that fits the perfection with the landscape.
This abandonment not only leads to a progressive deterioration but also generates a visual and environmental impact on the landscape of this coastal area that the plan aims to avoid.
The campsite is municipal property and in this sense the City Council has a lot to say. The intention of the municipal government is to recover it for the use and enjoyment of citizens with another format, “more coherent than the one that was set up at the time with the wooden booths, more responsible with the protected natural space, which allows service to the large influx of tourists that the municipality currently has with vacation accommodation and “enjoy one of the best sunsets on the island,” says Díaz.
Investment
Opting for the third option would mean rearranging what already exists and therefore would not require a large investment. The objective is to get it under public works exploitation concession, so that the company that exploits it must first carry out the intervention proposed by the City Council, an investment that will amortize the subsequent years of the concession.
The main determining factors when considering any of the planning proposals derive from the risks due to landslides. In the first section, which runs from the tunnel that gives access to the area to the Playa de La Arena viewpoint, containment measures have already been adopted. However, in the second, between this last point and the access to the campsite, it is necessary to “carry out a study aimed at a possible increase in the current protection wall and the selection of the areas of the slope to be covered”.
Thus, the development of the last two alternatives requires the study and design of a wall to protect the upper terraces or any other technical solution that mitigates the risk.
Finca Domínguez and ‘El Castillete’
Removing the Mesa del Mar campsite from abandonment is not the only outstanding action that is planned in Tacoronte within the framework of the aforementioned document. The other concerns part of the Finca Domínguez, which belonged to the family of the surrealist painter Óscar Domínguez and was originally intended for the cultivation of bananas. Within the property there is a construction known as the Guayonje castle or ‘El Castillete’ which was the family’s vacation residence.
Although the property is a clear reflection of the recent history of the municipality, it is not included in any instrument of protection in terms of cultural heritage and also presents a state of abandonment. Although the tower is apparently well preserved, the room most exposed to the cliff has collapsed.
The property is private and there have been several acquisition attempts by the City Council and other public administrations with the aim of rehabilitating the castle. In this case, the suggestions that are included are based on the assumption that the land is acquired by the Consistory given, in addition, that in the General Planning Plan (PGO) of 2009 that fell into disrepair, there was a session of that land linked to a partial plan on the upper area being the same owners. “We estimate that at some point this operation will take place, even outside the PGO, because the land is intended to be a partial plan,” says the mayor.
In this case, there are two options that are proposed: rehabilitate El Castillete and maintain agricultural use through the implementation of a project of urban gardens and environmental education activities; or put it in value, just like the farm itself as a cultural and recreational resource, where exhibitions and cultural artistic exchanges can be organized, outdoor workshops and viewpoint areas and even a bar-cafeteria.
However, José Daniel Díaz does not rule out other activities such as those linked to the water cycle, since there are several galleries in the area and a spring that allows irrigation of the farm.
