The local government will bring to the November plenary session the declassification of the sectors called Garduix I and II, Pla Feliu I and II and Ráfol I and II as developable to reclassify them as endowment land.
The sectors of Rafol I and II, Feliu I and II and Garduix I and II form a large green lung of 300,000 m² in an area of residential developments, these sectors already appear in the PGOU of 1998 as land for development, however in recent years there have been numerous voices that have opted for the environmental preservation of the area.
The aim of the Town Hall is to alleviate the urban pressure and preserve this green lung by using it for sports, educational, recreational or cultural purposes. The City Council intends to acquire the land by financially compensating the owners for expropriation and compensation.
This is a historic decision as it modifies the urban dynamics of the municipality and also proposes a different way of compensating the owners as it will not be done by means of units of use or by increasing the volume in other areas as has been done until now. This decision opens the way to a new way of managing urban planning in the municipality.
The process to reach the declassification of the land has been long and costly, in 2018 it was agreed to approve the proposal to the plenary of Compromís Calp for the technical services to prepare an environmental and economic impact study regarding the declassification of these sectors.
In 2019, a report by the Urban Planning Technician points out that according to jurisprudence, the fact that the sectors have not been developed in the last 20 years means that at the time of compensating the owners, the land is valued as it is and not for the urban development rights that have not materialised.
In June 2020, a public consultation was held on whether to maintain these sectors as land for development or to declassify them. A total of 214 people participated in this process of public participation with very different solutions, however, according to the document, the citizens understood the object of the consultation as a problem that should be addressed by the City Council.
Already then, the Council and the Municipal Technical Services indicated that the alternative to be studied was to try to conserve these sectors as they are. The Technical Services drew up an initial strategic document to propose the declassification of these areas and their conversion into green zones or land not for development.
Finally, the local government will take to the November plenary session the request to modify the General Plan to declassify the sectors Garduix I and II, Pla Feliu I and II and Ráfol I and II as developable and to reclassify them as endowment land for different uses, whether cultural, recreational or sporting, and to begin processing them.
The mayoress, Ana Sala, added that ‘the General Plan of Calp dates back to 1989, in recent years we have tried to improve it within the limited room for manoeuvre we have and adapt to social sensitivity, after so many years the sensitivity of citizens in this regard has changed, today citizens choose to preserve these spaces and also give them a public use for the enjoyment of all’.
All the members of the government team were satisfied with both the initiative itself, protecting the sectors, and the procedure for carrying it out, expropriation and compensation.