Segregating or developing in the coastal zone: the public street, the eleven metres and the parking

It is the section of Chapter 6.4 of Joint Regulation No. 9473 governing segregations and urbanisations within the Coastal Zone. It does not replace Chapter 5.1 on urbanisations and lotifications but overlays it: where the two conflict within the Coastal Zone, the more restrictive control prevails. It also sets the design and minimum width of the public access routes to the coast, the street that must separate the seafront lots from the public strip, where the recreational neighbourhood installations go, how much public parking must be provided and with what materials, and where the minimum area of the lots to be segregated comes from.

The provisions apply to every land segregation or urbanisation project within the Coastal Zone. The prohibition of urbanisations by way of exception applies to land bordering the maritime-terrestrial zone. The public-street rule applies where the project involves creating a line of individual lots parallel to and adjoining the maritime-terrestrial zone or the lacustrine shore. OGPe’s duty to submit the alignment plan to the Planning Board applies in cases not requiring a location consultation; in those that do, the route design forms part of the consultation. And on land not bordering the maritime-terrestrial zone but within the coastal zone, the Planning Board may require an access route design when, on the basis of the general interest, it deems it convenient or necessary.

• Applying the more restrictive control where there is a conflict between this chapter and Chapter 5.1 in land subdivisions and urbanisations within the Coastal Zone.Verified against the official source
• Not proposing urbanisations by way of exception on land bordering the maritime-terrestrial zone; if the prohibition is considered unreasonable, submitting the case by location consultation before the Junta Adjudicativa of OGPe.Verified against the official source
• In cases not requiring a location consultation: that OGPe submit to the Planning Board, before approving the formation of lots bordering or fronting the coast, a plan or plans showing the schematic alignment and width of the public access routes to the separation zone.Verified against the official source
• Where the project creates a line of individual lots parallel to and adjoining the maritime-terrestrial zone or lacustrine shore: that those lots be separated from the twenty-metre minimum-width Separation Zone by a public street serving as their principal access.Verified against the official source
• That the public routes accessing the separation zone never be less than eleven metres wide for vehicular accesses, nor three metres wide for pedestrian accesses.Verified against the official source
• Determining the width of the public routes in proportion to the project’s magnitude and to the magnitude of the population sector that uses or may use the coast, beach or lacustrine body for recreation.Verified against the official source
• Where the project requires dedicating land to recreation as part of its neighbourhood installations and the topography permits: siting them adjoining the limit of the Separation Zone or the lacustrine shore, and developing them for activities that harmonise with the use of the bordering coast, beaches, lakes or lagoons.Verified against the official source
• Providing, adjoining the twenty-metre Separation Zone, a minimum of one parking space for public use per ten dwelling units, but never fewer than three spaces.Verified against the official source
• Using in the parking lots permeable materials that allow the percolation or infiltration of water through the soil.Verified against the official source
• That the minimum lot area to be segregated be in accordance with Chapter 5.1 and with the qualification in force of the land subject to the proposed segregation.Verified against the official source
• Taking into consideration the effect of climate change on sea level and the coasts.Verified against the official source

• Plan or plans showing the schematic alignment and width of the public access routes to the separation zone adjoining the coast or the affected lacustrine shore, which OGPe submits to the Planning Board.
• Location and land use consultation, which incorporates the design of public access routes where the urbanisation borders the maritime-terrestrial zone.

1. 1

   Step 1: The more restrictive control governs

   The section opens with the rule defining its relation to the rest of the regulation. Its provisions apply to every land segregation or urbanisation project within the Coastal Zone, and in land subdivisions and urbanisations within the Coastal Zone the more restrictive controls prevail where there is a conflict with Chapter 5.1. That is, this chapter does not replace the one on urbanisations and lotifications: it overlays it, and at each point of collision the more limiting norm wins.

2. 2

   Step 2: No urbanisation by exception against the sea

   The prohibition is short: urbanisations by way of exception will not be authorised on land bordering the maritime-terrestrial zone. And the regulation leaves a procedural, not substantive, way out: where a person interested in such an urbanisation considers that this provision results in an unreasonable prohibition or restriction of the enjoyment of their property, they must submit the case through the location consultation procedure for consideration and action before the Junta Adjudicativa of OGPe. The route exists, but it is the consultation, not the exception.

3. 3

   Step 3: Who draws the accesses and who objects

   The regulation distinguishes by whether a location consultation is needed. In cases not requiring one, before approving the formation of lots bordering or fronting the coast, beaches or lacustrine shores, OGPe shall submit to the Planning Board a plan or plans showing the schematic alignment and width of the public access routes to the separation zone adjoining the coast or the affected lacustrine shore. The Board may object to the location, alignment or width of routes within a term no greater than thirty days; if it does not take that action within that term, it is understood to have no objection to what is proposed. In cases of urbanisation of land bordering the maritime-terrestrial zone that do require a location consultation, the design of public access routes forms part of the consultation. And on land not bordering the maritime-terrestrial zone but within the coastal zone, the Board may require an access route design when, on the basis of the general interest, it deems it convenient or necessary.

4. 4

   Step 4: The street that separates the lots from the sea

   It is the section’s most visible design rule, and the one that stops a row of houses from sitting flush against the public strip. Where the project involves creating a line of individual lots parallel to and adjoining the maritime-terrestrial zone or lacustrine shore, they shall be separated from the twenty-metre minimum-width Separation Zone by a public street that will serve as their principal access. In practice, between the sea and the first private lot there remain the twenty metres of public strip plus the street’s width.

5. 5

   Step 5: Eleven metres and three metres

   The width of the public routes serving as access to the separation zone adjoining the coast, a beach or a lacustrine shore is determined in proportion to the project’s magnitude and to the magnitude of the population sector that uses or may use the coast, beach or lacustrine body for recreation. That section corresponds to the minima set in Chapter 5.1, but shall never be less than eleven metres wide for vehicular accesses, nor three metres wide for pedestrian accesses. Those two numbers are the floor: the urbanisations chapter may ask for more, never less.

6. 6

   Step 6: The neighbourhood installations go by the sea

   Where the project requires that a certain amount of land be dedicated to recreation as part of its neighbourhood installations, and the topography and other land conditions so permit, they shall be sited adjoining the limit of the twenty-metre minimum-width Separation Zone or the lacustrine shore, and shall be developed for activities that harmonise with the use of the coast, beaches, lakes or lagoons they border. That is, the project’s recreational area is not hidden at the back: it goes where the public strip continues.

7. 7

   Step 7: The public parking and its materials

   Adjoining the twenty-metre Separation Zone, a minimum of one parking space for public use per ten dwelling units shall be provided, but never fewer than three spaces. The Junta Adjudicativa may require a greater or lesser number of parking spaces in the proportion each specific project justifies. And there is a materials requirement sometimes overlooked in budgeting: for the parking lots it is a requirement to use permeable materials that allow the percolation or infiltration of water through the soil, to avoid or reduce the amount of contaminants travelling in runoff water that gains direct access to the sea, among others.

8. 8

   Step 8: Climate, erosion and greater distances

   The section includes three warnings that change how all the chapter’s distances are read. First: for this and subsequent sections, the effect of climate change on sea level and the coasts must be taken into consideration. Second: the distances established here may be greater in areas that so warrant, preventing any adverse impact on life and property. And third: municipalities with serious coastal erosion problems may request greater distances or other mitigation measures. The chapter’s numbers are minima, not guarantees. And the minimum lot area to be segregated shall be in accordance with Chapter 5.1 and with the qualification in force of the land subject to the proposed segregation.

Projects are processed before OGPe or the municipality of the corresponding hierarchy. OGPe is the one that submits to the Planning Board the alignment plan of the access routes in cases not requiring a location consultation, and the Board has thirty days to object. Where the urbanisation borders the maritime-terrestrial zone and requires a location consultation, the route design forms part of that consultation before the Junta Adjudicativa. And anyone who considers the prohibition on urbanising by exception beside the maritime-terrestrial zone unreasonable in their case must submit it by location consultation before the Junta Adjudicativa of OGPe.

• Designing the subdivision with Chapter 5.1 alone, when within the Coastal Zone the more restrictive of the two controls prevails.
• Proposing an urbanisation by way of exception on land bordering the maritime-terrestrial zone.
• Believing the way out of that prohibition is an exception, when the regulation orders the case be submitted by location consultation before the Junta Adjudicativa of OGPe.
• Placing a line of individual lots flush against the Separation Zone without the public street that must serve as their principal access.
• Designing a vehicular access under eleven metres wide or a pedestrian one under three.
• Taking the eleven metres as the width to use always, when it is a floor and the width is determined in proportion to the project’s magnitude and to that of the population sector using the coast.
• Siting the recreational neighbourhood installations away from the limit of the Separation Zone when the topography allowed placing them adjoining it.
• Providing fewer than one public parking space per ten dwelling units, or fewer than three spaces in total.
• Paving the parking lots with impermeable materials, when it is a requirement to use permeable materials allowing the percolation or infiltration of water.
• Assuming the Planning Board approved the route design by silence before its thirty-day term to object has run.
• Segregating lots below the minimum area set by Chapter 5.1 and the land’s qualification in force.
• Taking the chapter’s distances as ceilings, when they may be greater where the area warrants it and where the municipality has serious erosion problems.

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