Roads, sewerage and qualification maps in the coastal zone

They are Sections 6.4.2.6 and 6.4.2.7 of Rule 6.4.2 and the whole of Rule 6.4.3 of Chapter 6.4 of Joint Regulation No. 9473. The two sections govern government construction projects and the design of infrastructure works within the Coastal Zone: what a new road must meet, how storm and sanitary sewerage are treated, and by what criterion the siting of essential public services is decided. Rule 6.4.3 explains the Coastal Zone’s qualification system: who establishes it, how far the map reaches, what legal force it has, why the districts are established, when the urban districts of Chapter 6.1 may be used, which zones may be superimposed on them, and when a special regulation prevails.

The government construction provisions apply to government projects within Puerto Rico’s Coastal Zone to provide essential public services and public infrastructure works. The design demands apply to every new road within the coastal zone, and are met whenever possible; where they cannot be met, the governmental entity must request an exoneration with the evidence justifying it. The sewerage rules apply to every project to install a storm collector discharging into bodies of water within the coastal zone, including the coast, beaches and lakes, and to every project for the construction of treatment plants and the installation of sanitary collectors and discharges in the coastal zone. And Rule 6.4.3 applies to all land, bodies of water, buildings and structures within the Coastal Zone.

• In government projects within the Coastal Zone for essential public services and public infrastructure works: giving consideration to avoiding coastal erosion, to avoiding the contamination of bodies of water, and special consideration to the impact of those works on land use.Verified against the official source
• In every new road within the coastal zone, whenever possible: reserving, dedicating or acquiring for public use the land of the right-of-way easement between the maritime-terrestrial zone and the proposed road.Verified against the official source
• In every new road: providing vehicular access to the adjoining sectors of beaches, coasts and lacustrine shores.Verified against the official source
• In every new road: that it not foster the irreversible process of intensive development of coastal, beach and lacustrine sectors important for their natural characteristics.Verified against the official source
• In every new road: that it not alter the natural flow or drainage of the waters in a way that adversely affects adjacent ecosystems such as marshes, mangroves and others.Verified against the official source
• If the proposed road’s design cannot comply with those provisions: that the governmental entity request an exoneration from compliance accompanied by the evidence justifying its request.Verified against the official source
• Treating every storm collector project discharging into bodies of water within the coastal zone, including the coast, beaches and lakes, as a precise source of possible water contamination, proceeding under the regulation in force.Verified against the official source
• Using the most advanced technological means to minimise the contaminating effects on bodies of water in storm collector projects.Verified against the official source
• Treating every project for the construction of treatment plants and the installation of sanitary collectors and discharges in the coastal zone as a precise source of possible water contamination, proceeding under the regulation in force.Verified against the official source
• Deciding the siting of essential public services and the routes of infrastructure works by analysing their impact so as not to stimulate or foster the intensive development of coastal and beach sectors.Verified against the official source
• Holding a public hearing to consider the proposal where the urban districts of Chapter 6.1 are to be used to classify land in the coastal zone.Verified against the official source

• Request for exoneration from compliance accompanied by the evidence justifying it, where a new road’s design cannot comply with the section’s provisions.
• Coastal Zone Qualification Maps that the Planning Board approves and adopts, which form an integral part of the chapter and govern jointly with it.

1. 1

   Step 1: What is asked of a coastal public work

   Section 6.4.2.6 frames everything else. In government projects within Puerto Rico’s Coastal Zone to provide essential public services and public infrastructure works — such as roads, sanitary or storm discharges and installations, aqueduct lines, electric, fuel and telephone lines and other similar ones — consideration shall be given to avoiding coastal erosion, to avoiding the contamination of bodies of water, and special consideration shall be given to the impact of those works on land use. Note these are mandatory design considerations, not prohibitions.

2. 2

   Step 2: A new road’s four demands

   Every new road within the coastal zone shall be designed and built, whenever possible, so that four things are met. That the land of the right-of-way easement between the maritime-terrestrial zone and the proposed road be reserved, dedicated or acquired for public use. That vehicular access be provided to the adjoining sectors of beaches, coasts and lacustrine shores. That it not foster the irreversible process of intensive development of coastal, beach and lacustrine sectors important for their natural characteristics. And that it not alter the natural flow or drainage of the waters in a way that adversely affects adjacent ecosystems such as marshes, mangroves and others. The first is what matters most to anyone walking to the beach: the land between the sea and the new road is reserved for public use.

3. 3

   Step 3: The exoneration valve

   The four demands are preceded by a "whenever possible", and the regulation says what happens when it is not: if in the event the proposed road’s design cannot comply with the previous paragraphs, the governmental entity must request an exoneration from compliance accompanied by the evidence justifying its request. It is not a silent non-compliance: it must be asked for and it must be documented.

4. 4

   Step 4: Storm and sanitary sewerage

   Both receive the same legal characterisation. Every project to install a storm collector for existing systems or for new developments discharging into bodies of water within the coastal zone, including the coast, beaches and lakes, shall be considered a precise source of possible water contamination, and shall proceed under the regulation in force. And such projects shall also be considered necessary for better urban development, for which the most advanced technological means shall be used to minimise the contaminating effects on bodies of water. Sanitary sewerage gets the same treatment: every project for the construction of treatment plants and the installation of sanitary collectors and discharges in the coastal zone shall be considered a precise source of possible water contamination, and shall proceed under the regulation in force.

5. 5

   Step 5: Where essential public services go

   Section 6.4.2.7 is the chapter’s shortest and states a decision criterion, not a measure: the siting of essential public services and the routes of infrastructure works shall be decided by analysing their impact so as not to stimulate and foster the intensive development of coastal and beach sectors. It is the counterpart of the road demand: infrastructure should not become, by itself, the engine of shoreline development.

6. 6

   Step 6: How far the qualification map reaches

   Rule 6.4.3 opens by saying the Planning Board shall establish, through the qualification districts, the use, control and development of the land, bodies of water, buildings and structures in Puerto Rico’s Coastal Zone. And it defines the map’s reach, which tends to surprise: the qualification map shall include the waters and the oceanic or maritime soil, the reefs, the islets and adjacent islands within a distance of three marine leagues — nine nautical miles — out to sea, as well as the land up to one linear kilometre inland, and those additional distances where necessary to include important natural systems of the coast. The map does not end at the shore: it goes into the sea and climbs inland.

7. 7

   Step 7: What force the maps have and what the districts are for

   The Qualification Maps the Planning Board approves and adopts shall form an integral part of and govern jointly with this chapter; and the sectors with urban qualification included in the coastal zone shall be considered part of the Qualification Maps and shall govern jointly with the chapter. On the purpose, the regulation is explicit: the Coastal Zone’s qualification districts are established to control new constructions, the establishment of new activities in existing buildings and the authorisation of segregations, for the purpose of preventing the loss of future use options for land of high agricultural productivity and of other coastal natural resources, to promote the better use and the most judicious management of these resources. And they are also established to protect the historic, scenic, recreational, cultural and ecological resources from destruction, deterioration and irreparable damage caused by their misuse or by a failure of foresight in attending to other activities’ adverse impact on them.

8. 8

   Step 8: The urban districts and the superimposed zones

   Where the better use and control of the land or planning studies justify it, the urban districts established in Chapter 6.1 may be used to classify land in developed areas or areas destined for development or for some public purpose; and where that situation arises a public hearing shall be held to consider the proposal. Besides, the districts designated for qualification in the coastal zone may also have other use-control zones superimposed on them, such as Airport Zones, Risk Zones, Tourist Interest Zones, Port Zones and other similar ones, in which cases the special regulation for such zones shall also apply to them. A coastal property may therefore be subject at once to its district, to this chapter and to a superimposed zone.

9. 9

   Step 9: When a special regulation governs

   The rule closes the chapter with the clause that can displace it. In the Special Planning Areas and Natural Reserves of Puerto Rico’s Coastal Zone Management Programme, as well as in other sectors where Puerto Rico’s Land Use Plan or other planning studies reflect, show and justify that, having certain essentially different particularities or characteristics, they warrant applying provisions other than those contained in this chapter, those adopted by the Planning Board as special regulation covering those particularities shall apply. It is worth reading alongside Section 6.4.1.3, which had already said the special regulations and sectoral plans adopted by the Board shall prevail over any other statutory land-ordering provision.

The Coastal Zone Qualification Maps are approved and adopted by the Planning Board, and form an integral part of the chapter. The request for exoneration from compliance for a new road is filed by the corresponding governmental entity, accompanied by the evidence justifying it. Storm and sanitary sewerage projects proceed under the regulation in force on water contamination, which is not part of this chapter. The public hearing to use Chapter 6.1’s urban districts in the coastal zone is held by the Planning Board. And the Special Planning Areas and Natural Reserves of the Coastal Zone Management Programme are governed by the special regulation the Board adopts.

• Assuming the coastal zone qualification map ends at the shore, when it reaches up to three marine leagues — nine nautical miles — out to sea and up to one linear kilometre inland.
• Reading only a coastal property’s qualification district, without checking whether an Airport, Risk, Tourist Interest or Port Zone is superimposed on it.
• Ignoring that in the Special Planning Areas and Natural Reserves of the Coastal Zone Management Programme a special regulation different from this chapter may apply.
• Designing a new road in the coastal zone without reserving, dedicating or acquiring for public use the land of the right-of-way easement between the maritime-terrestrial zone and the road.
• Designing a new road without providing vehicular access to the adjoining sectors of beaches, coasts and lacustrine shores.
• Altering the natural flow or drainage of the waters in a way that adversely affects marshes, mangroves and other adjacent ecosystems.
• Failing to meet the road provisions without requesting the exoneration from compliance accompanied by the evidence justifying it.
• Treating a storm collector discharging into the coast, beaches or lakes as routine work, when it is considered a precise source of possible water contamination.
• Installing a storm collector without using the most advanced technological means to minimise the contaminating effects.
• Using Chapter 6.1’s urban districts to classify land in the coastal zone without the public hearing the regulation requires to consider the proposal.
• Forgetting that the sectors with urban qualification included in the coastal zone are considered part of the Qualification Maps and govern jointly with this chapter.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico (JP)

  Junta de Planificación

  docs.pr.gov

• Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov

• OGPe Single Business Portal

  ogpe

  www.permisos.pr.gov