School zone: 100 metres, 200 radial, and which businesses cannot be there

It is the law that draws a perimeter around each school and says what may and may not operate inside it. For a neighbour or a parent, its value lies in three measurable things: the distance, the list of noxious businesses, and the hours during which those already there may open.

The law covers every public or private school at preschool, primary and secondary level, whether academic, vocational, technical or fine arts, located in both urban and rural areas. And it defines “school” broadly: the main building and every building, annex, yard, garden and parking area used for that education.

• That it be a public or private preschool, primary or secondary school, in an urban or rural area.Verified against the official source
• That there be a resolution designating the school zone for that facility.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The two numbers: 100 linear and 200 radial

   They are in the very definition of a school zone and are worth quoting as they read: “The school zone shall cover a distance of one hundred (100) linear metres calculated from the school grounds’ usable accesses in all directions of the public way, including transverse or lateral streets, or two hundred (200) radial metres from the school property’s limits for uses that may adversely affect the development of school activity or the health, welfare and safety of the facility’s users.” The 100 are measured from the accesses and along the public way; the 200 are measured as a radius from the property limits.

2. 2

   Step 2: The school includes the yard and the parking

   The definition is broader than people assume, and that moves the point from which you measure: “‘school’ shall mean the main building and every building, annex, yard, garden and parking area used for public or private education at the preschool, primary and secondary level.”

3. 3

   Step 3: Which businesses are noxious under the law

   The law names them and makes clear the list is not closed: designated as noxious activities and businesses, “without this being understood as a limitation, alcoholic beverage sales businesses, horse-racing and lottery agencies, establishments operating billiards and other games of chance, cockfighting pits and nightclubs, discotheques and analogous entertainment centres.”

4. 4

   Step 4: Those already there: only outside school hours

   This is the most useful rule in practice, because most cases are businesses predating the zone. “Activities and businesses established before the school zone was determined, classified by this Act as noxious, may operate only outside school hours: two (2) hours after the school closes, and until two (2) hours before the school opens.” The exception is restaurants and cafeterias where alcohol sales are incidental or accessory, which “are not noxious in themselves”; and it is the Permit Management Office, consulting the Education Department, that determines whether that incidental sale runs against the school zone’s purposes.

5. 5

   Step 5: Smoke, gases, noise and vibrations within the 200 metres

   It is a separate prohibition tied to the larger radius: “Within the school zone comprising the two hundred (200) radial metres from the school property’s limits, the operation of businesses, heavy industries, commerce, trade workshops or technological service centres producing smoke, gases, noise, vibrations and other analogous situations that may adversely affect health and the environment shall not be permitted.”

6. 6

   Step 6: Legal non-conformity and its clock

   For uses that already existed legally there is a route, and it has deadlines. The Permit Management Office may issue a legal non-conformity certificate when a use noxious to the zone is determined, and “the certificate holder shall comply, within one year, with the conditions or orders the Permit Management Office imposes to conform the use to the zone.” In addition, those obtaining that certification “may request and obtain a permit to operate that use for a term of two (2) years from the date the resolution demarcating the school zone is approved,” and the Planning Board may establish a procedure for longer periods or to authorise a change making the use conforming.

7. 7

   Step 7: Education weighs in before a new permit

   A little-known entry point. From the School Zones Regulation’s effective date, “no construction or use permit may be authorised, nor any action taken modifying the use of land, buildings, structures, appurtenances or places… within the limits of a designated school zone… without giving the Education Secretary the opportunity to issue recommendations.” If the Secretary raises no objection within thirty (30) days of being asked, they are deemed to have no recommendations.

8. 8

   Step 8: Each day counts as a separate violation

   The penalty has a multiplier worth knowing. “Any natural or juridical person violating this Act or any regulation or resolution adopted and approved under it… shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, if convicted, shall be fined not more than five hundred (500) dollars or imprisoned for a term not exceeding six (6) months, or both, at the Court’s discretion. Each day the infraction subsists shall be considered a separate violation.” And on who files: the Police of Puerto Rico or any Permit Management Office or Planning Board official may file the corresponding complaint, and those two offices, on their own initiative, must stop the violation by injunction or any other appropriate remedy.

The Planning Board, consulting the Education Secretary and the Police of Puerto Rico, adopts the School Zones Regulation; the Permit Management Office issues legal non-conformity certificates and authorisations. Any party affected by an act, decision or resolution of the Planning Board or the Permit Management Office may bring the actions those agencies’ organic acts provide to seek reconsideration or judicial review. If your matter is game machines near a school, that has its own guide; if it is a general noise problem, so does that.

• Measuring from the building wall: the 100 metres are calculated from the grounds’ usable accesses.
• Forgetting the parking and the yard: the law includes them in the definition of school.
• Confusing the two radii: 100 linear metres along the public way, 200 radial metres from the property limits.
• Believing a business predating the zone has no limits: it may operate only outside school hours.
• Treating every restaurant as noxious: those selling alcohol incidentally or accessorily are not so in themselves.
• Thinking the fine is one-off: each day the infraction subsists is a separate violation.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico (JP)

  Junta de Planificación

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov