By The Star Staff
Gov. Pedro R. Pierluisi signed three crucial documents enhancing the powers of several central towns to determine their territorial and economic planning, according to a La Fortaleza statement Sunday.
He created the Cordillera Consortium, the first Territorial Order Plan (POT) of Patillas, and the Comprehensive Review of the Territorial Order Plans of the municipalities of Aguada, Toa Baja, and Camuy.
With the Agreement for the Transfer of Powers in Hierarchies I and II to the Cordillera Consortium, made up of the municipalities of Naranjito, Orocovis, and Corozal, these three municipalities in the central and mountainous area of the island achieve a partnership that allows them to grant permits in accordance with the delegated powers. In addition, this municipal integration will facilitate planning issues in the region when it comes to enacting, reviewing, and implementing its Territorial Planning, Economic Development, Transportation, and Mitigation Plans.
The governor also approved the Regulation for Municipal Territorial Planning, which creates a key regulatory framework for the planning and territorial development of municipalities in Puerto Rico.
“With these documents, we mark two significant achievements in the work carried out by the Planning Board (JP). On the one hand, this Regulation ensures an orderly and sustainable administration of the municipal territories. At the same time, the Transfer Agreement implies that the residents of these municipalities will now have an office close to their residences and businesses that will facilitate the procedures for obtaining permits and services for citizens. Accessibility to carry out procedures is key to the island’s economic development in general,” the governor said.
Planning Board (JP) President Héctor Morales Martínez indicated that the Regulation for Territorial Planning regulates aspects related to environmental conservation, socioeconomic development, and the protection of natural resources. “This is a tool that promotes municipal autonomy by allowing the transfer of planning powers and permits while maximizing efficiency in land use to improve the inhabitants’ quality of life,” explained the official.
The Regulation, which will come into force 30 days after its filing with the Department of State, involves updating territorial planning processes at the municipal level in accordance with new laws and their amendments and the technological and virtual reality of this century.
Regarding the Transfer Agreement to the Cordillera Consortium, Morales emphasized that “with the creation of the corresponding office, located in Naranjito, the citizens of the area will receive a service of excellence, with greater agility, where they will have the attention of personnel who know their needs, the municipal territory and the applicable regulations.”
The governor also signed the First Comprehensive Review of the Territorial Planning Plan (RIPOT) of the municipalities of Aguada, Toa Baja, and Camuy while giving way to the first territorial planning for Patillas. The municipalities received technical assistance through a collaboration agreement with the JP in all cases.
“During these four years, the JP team has been providing technical support to many of the municipalities that have worked on their territorial plans or on the revision of these. This task has been a priority for my administration because the plans are an indispensable tool in the process of comprehensive planning of the island’s areas; therefore, they are an instrument for the economic development of the municipalities,” Pierluisi said.
Morales Martínez explained that, in the case of Aguada, after more than ten years of validity of its POT, the municipality began the process of carrying out its first RIPOT through a collaborative agreement with the JP. The RIPOT of Aguada calls for a new delimitation of the Urban Center. Officials considered changes in the urban site’s morphology, the urban layout’s continuity, population density, availability of infrastructure and economic activity to achieve this.
As for the Municipality of Camuy, which has among its natural attributes the caves of Camuy and the Park of the Caverns of the Camuy River, where the Tres Pueblos Sinkhole is located, its territorial plan was approved in 2011 and this is its first RIPOT.
“We thank Governor Pedro Pierluisi for signing this Land Use Plan, the Planning Board and the teams of municipal employees who worked this project. This achievement represents economic development and a promising future of growth for our city,” Camuy Mayor Gabriel “Gaby” Hernández.
Likewise, the Municipality of Toa Baja completed the first Revision of the Territorial Planning Plan (RIPOT) after achieving its first POT in 2008. This first RIPOT of Toa Baja resulted from a diagnosis of the municipality’s current social, economic, and physical conditions, with a focus on the principles of sustainable development, adaptation to new demographic profiles, and community resilience in the face of natural hazards.
“In Toa Baja, two sectors have been identified that deserve special attention for which specific planning instruments will be developed, such as the Area Plan for the Traditional Urban Center and the Area Plan for the Palo Seco Sector,” Morales said.
“In the case of Patillas, it was among the municipalities that did not have their POT, despite the fact that efforts in that direction had begun in 2005, so it is a significant achievement that it has completed the development of its first planning tool in this period, after the signing of the collaboration agreement with the JP in 2023,” the governor explained.
For his part, Morales stressed that “in this POT, the participation of community leaders and environmentalists stands out and the protection of the soils of the Punta Viento Wetland Natural Reserve is maintained. In addition, this plan promotes the rehabilitation and densification of the traditional urban center, incorporating mixed-uses for its strengthening.”
“With the approval of the POT of Patillas, five municipalities are pending to complete the procedures to finalize the preparation of their POT, of which four (Arroyo, Añasco, Isabela, and Loíza) have a Memorandum of Understanding with the JP,” Pierluisi concluded.
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