Taking part in a permit public hearing: the owner must attend or it is archived

These are Sections 2.1.10.6 to 2.1.10.10 of Chapter 2.1 of Joint Regulation No. 9473. They cover the public hearing’s scaffolding: who presides and with what powers, the owner’s duty to appear, the right of any person with a legitimate interest to speak, the pre-hearing conference to shorten the hearing, and the rules for suspending or transferring it.

Participation by the property’s owner or their authorized representative is mandatory. Any person with a legitimate interest who requests it may speak. To be recognized as an intervening party, the intervention request of Section 2.1.9.9 must be complied with. In quasi legislative processes the figure of party or intervening party is not recognized.

• That the property’s owner or their authorized representative take part in the public hearing: it is mandatory, and failing to take part the application is archived.Verified against the official source
• To speak at the hearing: having a legitimate interest and requesting to speak on the matter under consideration.Verified against the official source
• To be recognized as an intervening party: complying with Section 2.1.9.9 (Intervention Request).Verified against the official source
• That the pre-hearing conference be held no less than ten (10) days before the date set, in person or by technological means by prior agreement of the parties.Verified against the official source
• Filing any request to suspend or transfer a hearing, before it has begun, through the SUI or by email, no less than five (5) days before the date set, stating the reasons justifying it.Verified against the official source
• Notifying and sending a copy of the suspension request simultaneously to the other parties already recognized, and certifying that compliance in the request itself.Verified against the official source
• If the suspension was not caused by non-compliance with a legal requirement: paying the costs of notifying the suspension and announcing the new setting by publishing a public Notice.Verified against the official source

• Intervention request per Section 2.1.9.9, for whoever wishes to be recognized as an intervening party.
• Request to suspend or transfer the hearing, with the reasons justifying it and the certification of having notified the other recognized parties.
• Conference Report, in which stipulations between the parties may be accepted to resolve controversies.

1. 1

   Step 1: Who runs the hearing

   OGPe, the Adjudicative Board or the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III designates a lawyer or any authorized representative, who may be the Hearing Officer or part of an examining panel, to conduct the public hearing procedure. It is not the case’s evaluator who presides: it is an officer designated to run the procedure.

2. 2

   Step 2: The Hearing Officer’s powers

   The Hearing Officer has authority to dispose of all procedural and evidentiary matters in the case, including discovery incidents, and may issue the necessary interlocutory resolutions. The determinations so taken are considered those of OGPe or of the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III, and are reviewable only by a motion for administrative review filed before the Administrative Review Division.

3. 3

   Step 3: The owner must attend

   It is the section’s harshest rule and fits in two sentences: it is mandatory that the property’s owner or their authorized representative take part in the public hearing; failing to take part, the application is archived. There is no nuance or listed excuse: the proponent’s absence closes the file.

4. 4

   Step 4: Who else may speak

   Participation is allowed to any person with a legitimate interest who requests to speak on the matter under consideration. Speaking and being a party are not the same: anyone wishing to be recognized as an intervening party must comply with Section 2.1.9.9 on the intervention request. And there is an underlying exception: for quasi legislative processes the figure of party or intervening party is not recognized.

5. 5

   Step 5: The pre-hearing conference

   All parties or their authorized representatives and intervenors may be summoned, on the agency’s own initiative or at a party’s request, to a pre-hearing conference, to reach a definitive agreement or simplify the issues or the evidence to be considered. It is held no less than ten days before the date set for the hearing, and may be in person or by technological means by prior agreement of the parties.

6. 6

   Step 6: The Conference Report and stipulations

   The conference yields a Conference Report, and in it stipulations between the parties may be accepted to resolve controversies, provided OGPe determines that this serves the best public interests. That condition matters: an agreement between the parties does not suffice on its own; it must serve the public interest.

7. 7

   Step 7: Asking to suspend or move the hearing

   Any request to suspend or transfer a hearing, before it has begun, must be filed through the SUI or by email, no less than five days before the date set, stating the reasons justifying the suspension or postponement. The petitioner notifies and sends a copy of the request simultaneously to the other parties already recognized in the process, and must certify that compliance in the suspension request itself.

8. 8

   Step 8: Who pays for the suspension

   If the suspension was not caused by non-compliance with a legal requirement, the requesting party pays the costs of notifying the suspension and announcing the new setting, by publishing a public Notice. That is, asking to move the date for one’s own convenience carries a cost, though the Regulation publishes no amount for it.

9. 9

   Step 9: If the hearing does not finish that day

   If for any reason the public hearing cannot be concluded on the day set, the Hearing Officer may notify the continuation date orally, or may notify in writing those appearing and their legal representatives, without needing to publish a new public notice. Worth knowing: the continuation does not run in the newspaper again, so whoever leaves before it ends may miss the date.

The hearing is conducted by the Hearing Officer designated by OGPe, the Adjudicative Board or the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III. The Hearing Officer’s determinations are reviewed by a motion for administrative review before OGPe’s Administrative Review Division. The request to suspend or transfer is filed through the SUI or by email, with a simultaneous copy to the other recognized parties.

• Failing to appear at the hearing as the owner or their authorized representative, which entails the application’s archiving.
• Sending to the hearing someone without authorization to represent the owner.
• Believing that speaking at the hearing makes a person a party, when being an intervening party requires filing the intervention request.
• Asking to be an intervening party in a quasi legislative process, where that figure is not recognized.
• Filing the suspension request less than five days before the date set.
• Requesting the suspension by a route other than the SUI or email.
• Not sending a simultaneous copy of the suspension request to the other recognized parties nor certifying it in the writing.
• Assuming suspending the hearing is free, when if it does not answer to non-compliance with a legal requirement the requesting party pays for the notification and the new setting’s notice.
• Leaving before the hearing concludes, when the continuation may be notified orally and without a new public notice.
• Thinking the Hearing Officer’s determinations are appealed in any forum, when they are reviewable only by a motion for administrative review before the Administrative Review Division.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• OGPe Single Business Portal

  ogpe

  www.permisos.pr.gov

• Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov