The controversial businessman Angel Bustos is promoting the construction of a new luxury hotel in Formentera with capacity for 174 beds under the name Hotel Flor de Sal & Spa. It is a set of four buildings located on two urban plots in the tourist center of es Pujols, which are now a lush pine forest located a few meters from the beach. The two plots in question are the result of the approval of a study of detail in the last mandate, under the government of Gent per Formentera and the PSOE. According to La Voz de Ibiza, this is the urban operation that the president Llorenç Córdoba has been referring to as suspicious. The last time, at a press conference on November 11. Without citing names or locations, Cordoba referred to “quite suspicious changes in urban planning figures that should be investigated“. On other occasions, always without naming names, he spoke of urban requalifications approved in the previous term. Neither one thing nor the other, it is about the approval of a study of detail. According to sources of the Consell de Formentera, this operation is not part, however, of the documentation that the president claims to have delivered to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, unlike the contest under suspicion, the incompatibility of Javier Serra and the express license for the legalization and reform of the Caminito restaurant and that, according to experts consulted, is void and should be reversed, as La Voz de Ibiza has been reporting alone.
Tourist moratorium
The urban operation that allows the hotel promoted by Angel Bustos is not a requalification, but the development of a unit of action contemplated in the Subsidiary Rules of Formentera. Thus, on June 30, 2022, under the presidency of the socialist Ana Juan, the Plenary of the Consell de Formentera approved the Study of Detail of the Unit of Action UA EPJ-06 on a total of 17,415 square meters. The purpose of reparcelling was to “reorder volumetrically, define alignments and gradients of the plots and place the new buildings where the existing trees are less affected”. Despite repeated attempts by this media, the Consell de Formentera has not clarified the status of the project’s urban planning process. In any case, when the study of detail was approved, the General Tourism Law approved by the Government of Francina Armengol was already in force and that, among other things, includes the freezing of tourist places for a period of four years.
The promoters
The plots of land for tourist use were awarded to Apartamentos Impala is Pujols, SL, owned by the family that owns the restaurant sa Palmera, the apartments that give name to the company and also the Arrecife apartments. In fact, the company Arrecife sa Palmera SL is the promoter of the reparcelación approved in the study of detail.
Subsequently, the plots were acquired by the controversial businessman Angel Bustos in a public deed formalized on September 18, 2023. La Voz de Ibiza has tried unsuccessfully to contact the businessman. Some sources, however, place the agreement much earlier. According to the registry documentation in possession of La Voz de Ibiza, the purchase was formalized through the company Flor de Sal and Spa, SL. One plot measures 2,835 square meters and the other 2,624.
Changes with respect to the Subsidiary Standards
It is not a requalification, but there are changes with respect to the Subsidiary Rules of Formentera. Thus, the report of the study of detail approved by the Consell de Formentera justifies the change of location of the buildings for a“better adaptation to the terrain, less visual impact, and for greater protection of the masses of trees“. This is the justification for the design of the“construction of four independent buildings surrounded by trees and connected by pedestrian roads, resort type. It should be noted that the largest tree mass is located in the center of the plots, so the building is placed on the perimeter of the plot, safeguarding the central area with the largest trees”. The changes also provide a greater “functionality of a top category hotel”, according to the developers’ justification. The maximum authorized occupancy of the 2,835-square-meter plot, identified as plot 1, is 938.96 square meters, which represents 33.12% of the plot, and the buildable area is 1,663.98 square meters for a total density of 102 tourist vacancies. The plot identified as 2 and of 2,624 square meters enjoys 864.96 square meters of surface and density for 72 tourist vacancies.
