The express license granted by the Consell de Formentera for the legalization and reform of the Caminito restaurant is null and void and will be overturned in court if anyone appeals it.. Además, sin género duda.
At least, this is the opinion of experts in law and town planning who, at the request of La Voz de Ibiza , have reviewed the contents of the government meeting of last December 21 in which the permit was granted to Nimbus Formentera, SL, of which the former mayor and former president of the PP of Formentera, Juan Manuel Costa Escanellas Paya, is the administrator, behind the back of Llorenç Cordoba. This license is one of the cases that Cordoba has brought to the attention of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. For the technicians consulted, the speed of the processing and that the last steps were made at full speed with the aim that the authorization was incorporated by way of urgency in a meeting of government to which the president of the Consell de Formentera, Llorenç Cordoba, could not attend is
a suspicious element which, however, does not affect the legality of the license. “It is strange that they do it this way because there was no deadline to meet and no risk of expiration and that the work has not started a year later.The point that would invalidate, in his view, the enabling title is the strange way of proceeding of the Consell de Formentera in relation to the authorization of a project that fails to comply with basic urban planning parameters, such as the height of the building. The point that would invalidate, in his opinion, the enabling title is the strange way of proceeding of the Consell de Formentera in relation to the authorization of a project that fails to comply with basic urban parameters, such as the height of the buildings and, therefore, the volume. And the fact is that, as La Voz de Ibiza advanced, the license authorizes a basic project that does not comply with the regulations on heights on the condition that it is modified by the executive project during its execution phase. This way of proceeding is illegal, since
fails to comply with the Urban Planning Law of the Balearic Islands. Specifically, Article 152.
Political pressure?
“Any modification of the basic project must be approved, it cannot be modified. The Consell de Formentera should have asked for a new basic project to be presented in which the deficiencies were amended,” says an architect consulted by La Voz de Ibiza . And he clarifies: “Surely the technician was pressured to do so. If not, I can’t explain it because the LUIB is clear on this point,” he reflects. “It is given to a project that does not meet at least one essential parameter such as height, but without even requiring the correction of the project and it is said to correct this breach in the implementation project that legally must develop the basic and not modify it,” agrees a lawyer, also to this medium. ” It is a new project that nobody is going to supervise,” he says. He also adds that it is a “dangerous precedent”.
Permitted activities: restaurant only
Another point on which the experts consulted emphasize is the activity permitted for the renovated property. The Lío de Formentera project was conceived by the founder of the Pacha Group, Ricardo Urgell, who wanted to repeat the success of the Lío de Ibiza on the island. The Urgell family is the majority partner in the project. To do so, he partnered with Costa Escanellas, the island’s most important tourist businessman and currently the president of the Hotel Association of Formentera, who is a joint administrator of the company that applied for the license and claims to be “minority”. Under the brand name Paya Hotels, it operates the apartments Paya Suites, Paya I and II, Portu Saler and the hotels Blanco and Five Flowers, which was the first five-star hotel on the island. They also manage a car rental company and have interests in other activities. The son of the owner of the former Caminito, Stefano Trigo, also joined the project. Restaurant with show was the plan, in the image and likeness of Ibiza’s Lío. “It is a very nice project , very interesting, disruptive, designed for the people of Formentera and tourists. We will make a strong investment that will hopefully improve the complementary offer and leisure of Formentera. As usual it will respect Formentera and its people,” he told La Voz de Ibiza in October last year. Now he remains silent and declined to comment on the license. At the end of 2021, the millionaire main promoter of the initiative explained in the TEF that ”
Formentera has the most beautiful waters of the Pitiusas, sun and beach. When the sun is over, people want something else. Juanma Costa told me one day that we should do something to have more fun because people get bored. At 10 p.m. they don’t know what to do “.
And there was born the idea of transforming an Argentine restaurant into a restaurant with a show. And this is another of the controversial points of the license granted: the permitted uses. The license establishes a prescription: the future Lío de Formentera can only be a restaurant. Now and in the future”.
Conditional use
“The reform proposal assumes that the entire existing building will be dedicated to the use of RESTAURANT in accordance with the Catalog of existing activities on rural land of the PTI of Formentera and in accordance with the report of the Directorate General of Territory and Landscape. In this sense and according to Article 47 of the General Coastal Regulation, a restaurant could serve visitors to Estany Pudent, but a discotheque or nightclub would be reported unfavorably and a subsequent change of this use could give rise to the initiation of a penalty procedure.” “Why do they talk about discotheque or leisure activity and condition that it is not done? Because surely it is what is said in the project of activities presented, otherwise it is not relevant”, deduces the consulted lawyer. For the expert it is a contradiction to authorize a project whose proposed use does not conform to those authorized in the area. Therefore, “a work cannot be authorized for a specific activity if its use is not authorized beforehand. It is common sense,” the lawyer points out. “If there is no coordination between the building permit and the activity license, the result could be a legal building, which complies with urban planning regulations, but empty because the use for which it was built is not allowed,” he adds. According to the other expert, the Consell de Formentera should have required the promoters to submit a preliminary project of activities adjusted to the regulations, as established in Article 39 of Law 7/2013, on the legal regime of installation, access and exercise of activities. That article talks about the documentation required to request to use a building for certain activities.
All favorable reports
The license has all the favorable sectorial reports. This, however, and in view of the information known to date is not a guarantee. “These reports are conditioned to the information sent to them by the Consell de Formentera”. “The Consell de Formentera should have denied the license for the promoters to redo the project and that the basic project of activities adjusted to the regulations was reported again by the areas of the Consell and other administrations involved,” they conclude. Up to seven sectoral reports and the approval of the Technical Advisory Committee on Urban Planning, Spatial Planning, Historical Heritage and Activities of the Consell de Formentera (CTA) has needed the project: General Directorate of Natural Spaces and Biodiversity of the Ministry of Environment of the Balearic Government as the property is affected by the Conservation Area of the Natural Park of Ses Salines, by the Natura 2000 Network and by a Fire Risk Prevention Area; Dirección General de Costas y Litoral as it is affected by the Coastal easement; Demarcación de Costas de Baleares as it is affected by the right of way of the Ley de Costas; Dirección General de Energía as it is affected by a High Voltage line; Carreteras del Consell de Formentera as it is affected by the Ley de Carreteras; and the CTA.
