Segregating land: the subdivision rules of the Joint Regulation

It is Chapter 5.1 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, titled Urbanisations and Subdivisions. Its purpose, per the text itself, is to establish the guidelines and the closest coordination between the developer and the entities responsible for the infrastructure the proposed use needs, from the earliest stages of processing, to ensure the project internalises the infrastructure provision costs inherent to its operation without affecting the quality or quantity of service available to the community or sector. In practical terms: it is the chapter governing splitting land into lots. This guide covers the general provisions, the processing and urbanisation via exception. Roads and easements, and neighbourhood facilities, have separate guides on this site.

It applies to anyone proposing to subdivide or urbanise land in Puerto Rico. Urbanisation projects are filed with an Autonomous Municipality under the Convenio and the Territorial Ordination Plan; where there is no Territorial Ordination Plan or the corresponding delegations have not been transferred, they are filed before OGPe. There are nine cases that are not processed as lotificaciones and must be filed through a Consulta de Ubicación. And there are two routes with different requirements: ordinary lotificación or urbanización, and urbanisation via exception, whose express purpose is to reduce and simplify the procedures and minimum requirements needed to evaluate them. There is also a long list of exempt transactions for government entities concerned — ACT and DTOP, AAA, AEE and AFI, the Agriculture Department, ATPR, ATPR with Housing, PRIDCO, the Ports Authority, and the National Parks Company with the DRNA — each with its own conditions.

• That the land fall under none of the nine prohibitions in Section 5.1.2.3; if it does, the case must be filed through a Consulta de Ubicación.Verified against the official source
• That the lot have the corresponding public or private access: no permit for the lotificación of lots or holdings will be issued without it.Verified against the official source
• That the new lots’ side boundaries be, as far as possible, perpendicular to the access, and that the lot’s average depth not exceed three times its width.Verified against the official source
• That any lot to be left as a remnant not have an area smaller than that of the lot being formed.Verified against the official source
• For every urbanisation project, including urbanisations via exception: a geotechnical study certified by a licensed engineer evaluating the land’s geology and hydrology, geological faults, landslide history, susceptibility, topography, the presence of landslide deposit materials and the subsoil’s engineering properties.Verified against the official source
• For urbanisation via exception in non-qualified areas or in districts setting no specific minimum areas but permitting segregation: a minimum of 600 square metres where there is no sanitary sewer, complying with the alternate used-water disposal provisions and with Chapter 9.7.Verified against the official source
• That the corresponding Plano de Inscripción have been approved before building, disposing of the land or issuing any permit, save the regulation’s two exceptions for urbanisations and for lotificaciones resulting from reparcelación.Verified against the official source

• The geotechnical study certified by a licensed engineer, required for every urbanisation project including urbanisations via exception, with the measures to reduce liquefaction effects, the siting of structures on sinkhole-susceptible land, reduce settlement and avoid landslides.
• The approved Plano de Inscripción, without which no building shall be built, no land disposed of in any way and no permit issued for land use or buildings.
• For a de facto lotificación: evidence that it already existed on 4 September 1944 and has access to a public road, or that it is physically segregated by public roads duly registered as public use and ceded to the municipality or corresponding entity, or by any other natural element such as rivers or streams, and has access to a public road.
• A bond may be required as a condition for issuing a construction permit where the nature of the proposal justifies it; OGPe or the hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality sets the requirements for its acceptance.

1. 1

   Step 1: First, rule out the nine prohibitions

   Proposals on land that: sits in Specially Protected Rustic Soil; is of importance to historic or cultural heritage; requires preservation of its flora or fauna for economic, ecological or scientific importance; is susceptible to flooding, landslides or storm surge, or sits on landslide deposits per the USGS geological quadrangles or on land with a landslide history; is an area whose topographic features or vegetation have special meaning for the community; sits inside the coastal zone as defined in the Coastal Zone Management Plan; has direct access through the arterial roads PR-1, PR-2, PR-3, PR-10, PR-17, PR-18, PR-20, PR-22, PR-26, PR-30, PR-52, PR-53 and PR-66; forms part of a Territorial Ordination Plan that does not permit it; or is incompatible with the use of agricultural zones and existing agri-livestock projects — shall not be processed as lotificaciones. Cases affected by these provisions must be filed through a Consulta de Ubicación. It is not that they are forbidden: they go through another, longer door.

2. 2

   Step 2: Look at the lot’s shape before drawing it

   Section 5.1.2.4 sets three short rules that decide many projects. The new lots’ side boundaries shall, as far as possible, be perpendicular to the access. The lot’s average depth shall not exceed three times its width. And any lot to be left as a remnant may not have an area smaller than that of the lot being formed. That last one surprises people: you cannot keep the little corner and sell someone else the big piece. On sizes, Section 5.1.2.5 adds that where the lotificación is proposed inside a qualified area the areas adjust to the district they sit in, and that the subdivision of fractions smaller than the minimums may be authorised to be added to another lot, provided the lot or remnant it is reduced from still complies.

3. 3

   Step 3: Check the access and the road plans

   No permit for the lotificación of lots or holdings shall be issued unless the lot has the corresponding public or private access. And there is a priority rule worth checking before buying: where roads proposed in the road plans crossing the property are included in the Highways and Transportation Authority’s Five-Year Road Construction Programme, or have been programmed for construction by the municipal authorities, they prevail and no lotificación shall be authorised within their proposed right of way. Where construction of those roads has not been programmed, lotificación and the necessary works are permitted without regard to their occupying land identified for those roads.

4. 4

   Step 4: If it is an urbanisation, there is a geotechnical study

   For every urbanisation project, including urbanisations via exception, landslide risk and other subsoil conditions are taken into account through a geotechnical study certified by a licensed engineer. The study evaluates the land’s geology and hydrology, the presence of geological faults, the area’s landslide history, the land’s susceptibility to them, topography, the presence of landslide deposit materials as described in the USGS geological quadrangles of Puerto Rico, and the subsoil’s engineering properties, among others. And it must establish the measures that will be taken to reduce liquefaction effects, the siting of structures on sinkhole-susceptible land, reduce settlement and avoid landslides.

5. 5

   Step 5: Urbanisation via exception and the count from 1964

   The purpose of distinguishing urbanisations via exception from lotificaciones is to reduce and simplify the procedures and minimum requirements needed to evaluate them. On areas: if proposed in non-qualified areas or in qualification districts setting no specific minimum areas but permitting segregation, the minimum areas will be 600 square metres where there is no sanitary sewer, and the alternate used-water system provisions and Chapter 9.7 on control of access to public roads must be complied with. If the proposed areas are under 600 metres, or the parcel is classified as Specially Protected Rustic Soil, a Consulta de Ubicación must be filed. And here comes the count that changes many people’s plans: to comply with the requirement of not exceeding three lots to be formed, every segregation in the parcel as it existed on 29 June 1964, the effective date of Act No. 116 of 1964, counts as one of the three segregations, bearing in mind that the remnant constitutes a segregation. That is: what was segregated sixty years ago counts, and so does the piece you keep.

6. 6

   Step 6: De facto lotificaciones: the door for old cases

   Section 5.1.1.4 resolves many tangled titles. OGPe or the hierarchy I-III Autonomous Municipality may consider segregation applications where it is shown they already existed on 4 September 1944 and have access to a public road; or where it can be evidenced that the land is physically segregated by public roads duly registered as public use and ceded to the municipality or corresponding entity, or by any other natural element such as rivers or streams, and has access to a public road. In those cases compliance with other requirements of the Regulation or of the municipality’s Ordination Regulation is dispensed with, as applicable. The key word is "may": it is not automatic, and it has to be proven.

7. 7

   Step 7: The plano de inscripción governs

   No building shall be built, no land disposed of in any way, and no permit issued for land use or buildings, until the corresponding Plano de Inscripción has been approved. The regulation recognises two exceptions. In urbanisations, construction of the structures may be authorised together with the urbanisation works without the planos de inscripción having been authorised. And in lotificaciones resulting from reparcelación, a limitation on use or disposition may be imposed even after the Plano de Inscripción is approved, until the urbanisation works needed for the uses contemplated in the Territorial Plan or in this Regulation are built and accepted.

8. 8

   Step 8: Leasing is not always subdividing

   Section 5.1.1.5 expressly dispenses lease contracts that do not constitute a lotificación of the parcel or of a structure from applying for lotificación permits and the corresponding plano de inscripción, in two cases: projects that by their nature and complexity require the siting of more than one structure on the same parcel, being functionally related to the same principal purpose; and projects that on occasion require lease contracts over a portion of the parcel or of a structure for the siting of a particular use or client. It is the rule that allows, for instance, leasing a space inside a building without having to segregate it.

9. 9

   Step 9: The remnant and the infrastructure

   Where a parcel of land is not proposed in its entirety for development, additional infrastructure capacity shall be provided, with duly dedicated public or private access, within the remnant, to supply the needs a development similar to the one proposed would generate there if the whole remnant were inside urban soil. But if the remnant is outside urban soil, or if the requested segregation completes the lotificación, providing additional infrastructure capacity for future developments is not permitted. It is the regulation’s way of preventing capacity from being installed for a development nobody has evaluated.

Urbanisation projects are filed with an Autonomous Municipality under the Convenio and the Territorial Ordination Plan. Where there is no Territorial Ordination Plan or the corresponding delegations have not been transferred, urbanisation projects are filed before OGPe under this Regulation. De facto lotificaciones may be considered by OGPe or the hierarchy I-III Autonomous Municipality. And cases falling under any of the nine prohibitions are filed through a Consulta de Ubicación.

• Drawing the lots before checking the nine prohibitions in Section 5.1.2.3.
• Not checking whether direct access is through one of the thirteen arterial roads the regulation names.
• Counting only recent segregations: the count of three runs from the parcel as it existed on 29 June 1964.
• Forgetting that the remnant counts as one of the three segregations.
• Leaving a remnant with a smaller area than the lot being formed.
• Projecting lots with a depth greater than three times their width.
• Building or selling before the Plano de Inscripción is approved.
• Assuming 600 square metres where the qualified district sets a different area: in a qualified area the district governs.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov

• Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov