Roosevelt Roads LRA to draft new master redevelopment plan.

Despite ongoing development at the former U.S. Naval Station at Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba, the 2023 Fiscal Plan -- issued nine years after the original blueprint in 2014 -- already requires the creation of a new, updated master plan for the 8,600‑acre site, of which over 3,000 acres are slated for redevelopment. (Wikipedia)

By EVA LLORENS

The Local Redevelopment Authority for Roosevelt Roads (LRA‑RR) is looking at drafting an entirely new master redevelopment plan for the former naval installation, citing concerns by the Financial Oversight and Management Board that current projects are advancing without an overarching framework to ensure long‑term coherence, said Carlos J. Ríos Pierluisi, the authority’s director.

In a roundtable Monday with the press, Ríos Pierluisi said that despite ongoing development, the 2023 Fiscal Plan -- issued nine years after the original blueprint in 2014 -- already requires the creation of a new, updated master plan for the 8,600‑acre site, of which over 3,000 acres are slated for redevelopment.

“Even if we wanted to keep working with what exists, the Fiscal Plan calls for a new master redevelopment plan,” he explained. “So one way or another, it has to be done.” 

He emphasized that the new plan must go far beyond traditional zoning maps.

“We’re talking about a plan that covers much more than sonifications,” Ríos Pierluisi said. “We already have an idea of the types of projects envisioned for Roosevelt Roads. Now we have to make sure those projects can coexist.”

That coexistence, he added, requires a holistic approach to infrastructure, housing, traffic and community integration.

“We need to ensure existing roads can handle mixed traffic flows — commercial, industrial, residential, tourist, and access traffic,” he noted. “We also have to confirm there’s adequate housing for the employees who will be living here, for the future residents of Roosevelt Roads.”

Ríos Pierluisi said the agency’s renewed vision involves incorporating everything already known — and everything expected to be learned as new studies and analyses are completed.

“This is more than just saying ‘you can build this here,’” he said. “The vision requires looking at the big picture and ensuring that everything we want to develop can happen in harmony.”

The U.S. Navy transferred the installation and its land to Puerto Rico under an Economic Development Conveyance with a price of $16.5 million, payable from 2015 through 2044. In 2013, the Navy completed the transfer of roughly 3,400 acres to LRA-RR along with some 1,600 facilities that comprise more than 5.8 million square feet. The property contains more than 800 residential buildings including single and small-scale multi-family dwellings, apartment houses and a hotel (around 50% of all square footage). There are also facilities in use as commercial, retail, offices and industrial facilities (some 25% of all square footage). Educational, institutional, public amenity purpose buildings, and storage comprise most of the remainder of the structures.

Some of the infrastructure related to the previous operations of the former naval station is still present, including the fuel pier, the airport (and its hangars), jet fuel tanks, and sewage treatment plants. Overall, the footprint of the area is 8,600 acres, but due to the presence of wetlands areas, floodplains, and steep terrain, some 3,868 acres is available for development.